If you’ve ever wanted to get paid $15/hour to rage against the machine (or for the machine, depending on the client), here’s your chance. Los Angeles-based Crowds on Demand is now offering fake supporters for social causes that have little support, but ample cash flow.
Vice Magazine recently caught up to Crowds on Demand’s CEO Adam Swart to inquire about his new business. Crowds on Demand primarily serves two functions: to inflate the egos of up and coming celebrities who want to be spotted with an entourage, and providing fake supporters to non-profits who are too incompetent to organize their own crowds.
So, how much does it cost to hire enough protesters to incite full scale revolution? Rates, Swart tells Vice, usually start in the low thousands. But he gives discounts for “good causes,” because, as their website notes “Crowds on Demand is committed to giving back to the communities that we serve.”
Vice met with Crowds on Demand during a protest to “raise awareness about mental health issues.” Twenty protesters carried signs advertising “Purge Day,” which even Vice’s reporter didn’t full understand. A quick Google search brought us to this site, which seems to be less about mental health than some new age call to “cleanse your mind” of negative thoughts.
You can also buy some some sort of “positive bunny” figurine, but be warned: “Do not buy fraudulent bunnies. You can only purchase Positive Bunny here to benefit RH 501c3 charity for homeless teens.”
Bizarre charities aside, Swart also admitted to organizing protests on behalf of private businesses. When asked by Vice if he thought his business diminishes the impact of real protects, Swart was not concerned. “I think when the cause is good, and you’re demonstrating over meaningful issues… What’s important is the awareness, not the means.”
According to his LinkedIn, Swart is also a board member of Associated Students UCLA and has a long history of work in academia.
Read the full interview at Vice.