In Germany recently, moviegoers got more (or less) than their money’s worth when a trip to the theater turned into a lesson on empathy. Havas Dusseldorf and fiftyfifty, a magazine for the homeless, teamed up to increase awareness about how those less fortunate struggle to survive in the cold. Customers sat in freezing movie theaters and were given blankets, so they could experience firsthand how the homeless spend nights and winters. On screen, a short documentary played, where homeless people were interviewed about the simulation. As you’ll see in the clip above, the temperature in the movie theater dipped to 46 degrees Fahrenheit, which one homeless interviewee describes as “cosy.”
The campaign, titled “Frozen Cinema,” is meant to inspire donations–we all know the homeless endure the harshest of conditions, but just experiencing some of what they go through for an hour could change anyone’s perspective. Think about it the next time you go to the movies and absently destroy a bag of popcorn and say something like, “it’s too cold in here.”