Thursday 15 September 2011

Fighting Poverty: Why Not Just Provide Better Public Services, Or Getting Down to Basics


First there were the various beefcake calendars put out by firemen to raise funds for burn units and the like. Then came "sex muffins of science," another calendar (which I can't find at the moment) of very good looking science nerds. Now there is a nude campaign by Montreal's Centraide, the community charity.

The 17 performers and personalities--all well known locally--pose artfully with the slogan, "En dessous on est tous pareils", underneath we're all the same. Don't know if this will increase Centraide's take this year, but it certainly is attracting attention. Of course, it would be interesting to know just how much the advertising agency that thought up the campaign will make from the campaign: "administrative" costs can be a big factor in any charity fundraising endeavor.

A more efficient way to get aid to people hwo need it is to provide decent public services. As in health care, overhead costs are much lower when provided by the public sector.

But nobody is taking of clothes for paying more taxes. But why not. Amir Khadir might be quite interesting to see unclothed, although the idea of Jean Charest is quite another story!

Photo: Mitsou and Abeille Gélinas

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