I suppose it had to happen eventually, given the aggressive trend to stamp a corporate logo on everything mobile or inert. Forget spending millions to name a sports arena after your company. An advertising firm in Denver has discovered a hot new niche: signs for the homeless. The company handed out signs to local street people emblazoned with its logo and slogans like "At Least I'm Not Spamming Your E-Mail." The company doesn't pay them to hold up the signs; apparently the signs' ability to attract additional handouts is payment enough.

The local homelessness activists are, predictably, upset about outsiders moving in on their self-proclaimed turf. They have only themselves to blame for not exploiting this gold mine sooner. They look at a homeless man and see more open sores to be wept self-righteously over; an advertising guru looks at the same man and thinks: "potential cognitive bandwidth."

It's all about perspective, you know?