Internet portal Terra has found an innovative way to reward conscientious dog owners: free Wi-Fi for those that clean up after their pooch.
The company is piloting a program in 10 parks in Mexico City that works like this: When dog owners throw away their excrement in a special box, the device calculates the weight and then gives everyone in the park free Wi-Fi for a period (usually a few minutes.) Of course, there?s a way to rig the program by tossing garbage in the box instead of poo, but the ad agency behind the effort, DDB Mexico, told Creativity Online that it?s fine if people are cleaning trash from the park to access the service. However, during the day, hostesses stand by the boxes handing out poop bags to ensure that the device is being used as promised.
Terra and DDB Mexico aren?t the first to experiment with Wi-Fi as a social engineering mechanism. During South By Southwest, ad agency BBH encouraged attendees to give money to the homeless via ?Homeless Hotspots? that rewarded donations with free wireless Internet service.
