Full Frontal Politics: Street Canvassers Take It To The Streets

In these peak days of summer, many earnest young people are not only taking jobs in a local mall or restaurant, but often as an on-the-street canvasser.

On a recent weekday afternoon we found canvassers for Planned Parenthood the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the Red Cross each commandeering their own section of San Francisco’s bustling Market Street.

On another day, Greenpeace trolled an intersection of Mission and Second. With each the technique is generally the same: position oneself  in the middle of the sidewalk in a brightly colored, branded t-shirt, target the unsuspecting pedestrian, and and then wave boldly, with a nice big, country-style wave.

Then comes the open-ended question? “Hello! Do you support gay marriage?” or “Do you want to protect our environment?

Many pedestrians dodge them. Some answer imaginary cellphone calls. Then there are those who, perhaps out of sympathy, stop and let the canvasser recite their plea.

Is street canvassing the best way to market a political cause? This pedestrian’s expression says “probably not.”

But even those who profess to privately support some of these causes find the strategy disturbing or even downright irritating.

“I support all of these organizations off the grid,” says Catherine, an artist and mother from Marin. “[But] anticipating being accosted on the street makes me hurry on by, or lie about which constituency I vote with.”

But one has to wonder, is this really the best use of a non-profit organization’s precious marketing dollars? How is this any different from a panhandler or an untalented busker banging a plastic bucket and calling it music? Does a “cause” make their use of the public sidewalks acceptable and how does this impact the retailers whose most valuable real estate is their front door and windows?

A Planned Parenthood canvasser holds her ground firmly in the middle of the sidewalk.

We had a casual conversation with one Planned Parenthood canvasser (we’ll call her Carla) who said canvassing is just one of the organization’s strategy for bringing awareness, but that it is key to the organization’s local chapter.

“The average American spends about 5 minutes a day on politics, so if you’re out there on the street it actually gives you the chance to talk to someone you don’t normally get to talk to.”

On a good day, Carla puts in a four-hour shift and of the hundreds she confronts,  is able to get roughly 30 people to hear her out. She didn’t disclose how many of those 30 people actually make a donation or fill out a form.

Planned Parenthood puts heavy emphasis on repeated trainings in order to prepare canvassers for the broad range of questions they’ll receive. “We have trainings for how you’re supposed to talk to people,” says Carla. “So we’re not sending people out there who are saying things they’re not supposed to say. We have a very consistent training schedule.”

As for the merchants, they don’t really have a say, although some have complained. The general rule is that canvassers must stay fifteen feet from the merchant’s front door.

What makes them run? Two Planned Parenthood canvassers flee when they are confronted about their organization’s canvassing strategy.

When Carla discovered that she would be quoted for this blog, she became terrified and immediately alerted her street partner. We tried to photograph them but they covered their faces and ran. Strange behavior when you consider that they are representing a perfectly respectable, public organization — so why be embarrassed or afraid?

We contacted Planned Parenthood as well as to the Red Cross and ACLU, but were unable to get a response from officials there.

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