If an ad agency is looking for a good copywriter, they needn't look farther than the beggars they pass on their way to work. I've been noticing that their signs are more clever and funny than most ads I see. How do you walk by "TESTING HUMAN NATURE" and not smirk a little to yourself? Or see a satirical "Need money for drugs" without a chuckle? (On second thought, that one might not have been a joke...) This generation of the homeless has a sense of humor, and it's refreshing. I would rather give a dollar to wit than to chagrin any day.

Those folks would make great advertisers. They have the creativity, they write to evoke emotion, and they have a great selling strategy: stick to areas of high traffic and areas of high traffic (the former being somewhere like a freeway on-ramp, and the latter being somewhere like a Jack n' the Box at 2 in the morning), because that's where they get the most money. Earlier today I saw a man on the side of the road with a sign that read: "Start work on the 17th. Need help until then." I would love to see him again on the 18th with a sign saying: "Start work on the 30th. Need help until then." because that would mean that he knows what makes people empathize and give, and he's using it. Brilliant.

Yes, it seems necessity is a great motivator. With just the most basic medium--a piece of cardboard and a sharpie--they must make their living. They have 1 square foot of space to make their case and convince a stranger to stop walking by and give them their money. That makes for good writing.

Or at least I hope. Maybe they once were copywriters and I should fear for my own future.