The next time you see someone on the street holding a "Will work for food" sign, you might be directed to visit a company's Web site.

Just when you thought no place in America was untouched by advertising, 22-year-old entrepreneur Ben Rogovy came up with a new tactic: bumvertising — the use of sign-holding vagrants to advertise, as defined on bumvertising.com.

The concept of "bumvertising" has been called exploitative, insensitive and unethical. Although I understand why people may be offended by the idea, I am in support of it as a short-term way to help 3.5 million homeless Americans while a more active and permanent solution is pursued to wipe out homelessness. Obviously, I'd prefer that this country had no beggars at all, but the fact is that everyday, there are people who wake up to go to work in high-traffic areas where they hold signs in order to get by.

After graduating from college in 2005, Rogovy created a Web site where poker players can go to connect and play poker online. In order to advertise his site, he decided to tap into what he saw as a valuable resource: beggars on the streets of Seattle, holding signs with pleas for money, food or work. He approached the beggars and asked if he could attach his own sign with his company's Web site to the bottom of the signs they were already holding in exchange for some water, food and $5 or less, depending on the traffic volume in the area.

The beggars agreed and bumvertising was born. Rogovy received more attention and press for his concept of bumvertising than for his poker site, and he created another site called bumvertising.com where companies find out how to get their names on a beggar.

There are several claims against this form of advertising saying that the advertisement tactic is degrading. The controversy has been discussed on blogs, in news articles and on Web sites. The biggest complaint of advocacy groups has been that the term "bumvertising" reinforces negative stereotypes about beggars as it refers to someone who is lazy. I agree. I do not think that this term is the right one, and Rogovy should look into creating a new name for the brand, but I am not against the concept.

Rogovy explains that the idea is not to replace a beggar's income, but to augment it. So really it is just a way to help beggars in their daily work. Many of the beggars say they are more likely to collect money when they have an advertisement attached to their sign. The speculation is that these beggars may be seen as taking initiative, rather than just begging on their own.

A visit to the bumvertising Web site made me see the practice in a more positive light. It explains, "Homeless men and women are able to provide a valuable and tangible service to a company, while receiving an additional revenue stream in combination with their normal donations from begging."

The site also contains information on how to implement the advertising, as well as the opportunity to "adopt a bum" by donating money for sunscreen, hats and mp3 players — all items that are useful to beggars during their day. These extra efforts to help beggars are more than a lot of people participate in and show general goodwill toward those with basic needs.

I questioned whether bumvertising is even legal and found that it is. The beggars are not employees of the companies whose advertisements they display, but rather, contractors, and therefore they do not have to be paid minimum wage.

Rogovy's idea has spread. Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream recently started its own advertising campaign. The company provides hats and jackets with the company logo to beggars to keep them warm.

Some call Rogovy a "poverty pimp," but I say he started something that could possibly spread more awareness about homelessness and even attract attention to beggars who are usually snubbed or ignored. Homelessness is already a problem that definitely needs to be addressed, but while it's a reality, why not have companies and beggars benefit from each other?