Salvation Army using cardboard bell-ringers

[Casshew]

There’s a reason that smiling Salvation Army bell-ringer looks a little stiff this Christmas season, and it’s not the cold weather. Banned from Target stores and faced with a shortage of holiday volunteers, the Salvation Army is using scores of animated, cardboard bell-ringers on a test basis to staff its red donation kettles in stores across the South.

Equipped with motion sensors, each corrugated cutout has a battery-operated, motorized arm that waves a silent cardboard bell. Anyone who draws near hears a loud, jingling sound from a speaker and a cheery “Merry Christmas, God bless you.”


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2004/12/03/764349.html