People always see homeless people as poor, desperate, and beyond help. Most existing homeless campaigns simply keep re-affirming such stereotypical images, and ask people to donate out of sympathy, which only marginalized this community even more.

Instead of following down the spiral of pity, this campaign is aimed to shift people’s negative perceptions of the homeless, and raise funds for this community in a meaningful way, while reinforcing Getty Images as a brand that strives to shape perceptions, promote unlimited possibilities, and move the world with powerful imagery.

For this project, Getty Images partnered with fiftyfifty (a street magazine sold by homeless people), and worked with their homeless vendors as models for classic stock photography.

We filtered out the most in-demand motifs on Getty Images, and portrayed the homeless as common people in these different life and work situations. This way, we showed homeless people’s possibilities, and helped people to see the homeless as who they really are - the same human beings as anyone of us. The photos were uploaded to Getty Images and iStock. All profits from the downloads go directly to fiftyfifty to help purchase apartments for the homeless.

With the innovative use of stock images, we converted an established digital service into a new media channel, and a constant fundraising tool for the homeless.

The project was promoted across various media platforms: print, TVC, online films, and a photo exhibition touring around Germany.

More photographers are encouraged to join us and create their own stock photo collection with their local homeless, which will also be integrated into the Getty Images database and generate revenue to be donated to their partnered local homeless NGOs. Like this, the project has turned into a global movement.

With over 155 million reach, and over € 1.4 million equivalent of earned media, we are driving a narrative of hope and possibilities for the homeless community. Up until now, the project has generated over € 50K donations for fiftyfifty. The awareness of Getty Images’ brand value has also remarkably gone up among the general public.