These two fine gentlemen are the Purdue "Compliment Guys". (Click on the picture for the full article.)
Their mission: to compliment everyone that walks by them and brighten their day.
Their purpose: not girls, or money, or fame, just the hope that they can spread a little joy in a time of economic depression.
When I read this article I couldn't help but smile. So clearly their project is working! On the surface it may not seem like this article has much to do with the goal of the arts and culture group, but I think it would be interesting to see if what these two guys are doing could be applied to different situations. For example, what if instead of having "compliment guys" on a college campus, there could be a group of people outside of the soup kitchen giving compliments, or maybe in one of the more impoverished neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Would a group of happy compliment givers have their comments taken at face value, or has the world become so cynical that even a simple compliment wouldn't be received well? I'm not sure, but I think it might make for some interesting performance art.
