Homelessness in America is a trend that is on the rise. As the cost of living goes up, many people cannot adjust. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has counted around 582,000 Americans experiencing homelessness in 2022. This is not to mention the estimated 84,526 homeless people living in New York alone. Australian advertising agency Clemenger BBDO created the ad campaign entitled “For the Homeless, Everyday is a Struggle.”. This advertisement shows a public garbage can with a fork, knife, and napkin placed on top of it. The ad is trying to demonstrate how the homeless sometimes have to resort to extreme measure in order to eat, and in this case, they are talking about eating out of the trash. The South African ad campaign entitled “See how easy feeding the hungry can be?” takes on the same topic as the previously mentioned ad but in a different way. In this ad, we are shown images of children inside of a shopping cart with their hands held out, asking for food. Both the “For the Homeless, Everyday is a Struggle” and “See how easy feeding the hungry can be?” civic artifacts use rhetorical lenses to demonstrate the problems of homelessness and poverty, and how we must stop these problems.
Speech outline:
- By a show of hands, how many of you have seen a homeless person before? If you’ve ever been to a large city or densely populated area, I’m assuming you’ve seen one before.
- As the cost of living continues to go up, many people can’t adjust. This is causing the amount of homeless people in America to rise.
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development counted around 582,000 Americans experiencing homelessness in 2022. Not to mention the estimated 84,526 homeless people living in New York.
- homeless people struggle for food every day and they have to go to extreme measures to eat, like eating out of the trash or in some cases, stealing.
- Another important fact about homelessness is that it touches upon three of the sustainable development goals. These goals are no poverty, zero hunger, and good health and well being.
- We as one society have the power to help get rid of homelessness in this country. By just doing simple things like donating and volunteering at a shelter, you can help get rid of homelessness.