AT FIRST glance his sleeping bag and beanie hat may seem unremarkable, but his skeletal physique is certainly turning heads in Southampton.

This is ‘Skinny Steve’, a homeless charity’s awareness campaign, which has been getting some double takes on his appearances in the town over the past two weeks.

This form of so-called ‘guerrilla advertising’ is the brainwave of university student Joe Miller to promote the Society of St James.

The 20-year-old, of Handel Terrace, Southampton, said: “It’s just got that shock element, you don’t expect to see it at all, a lot of people just walk past, they try not to look down, they don’t want to be confronted.

“People are walking past and realise in their peripheral vision that it’s a skeleton.”

Guerrilla advertising generates awareness by getting people’s attention when they least expect it.

Plastic skeleton Skinny Steve appears with the message “How long until you take notice” and Joe said behind the shock value there was a serious point to be made – that if people just keep walking past and keep ignoring the homeless they will die.

He came up with the idea after passing homeless people in the street and wondering about their story.

The Southampton Solent University Media Communication student approached the Society of St James, Southampton’s largest homelessness charity supporting over 1,000 people at any one time, to do a documentary on the issue, but they said they were keen to do some advertising.

Joe has admitted getting some funny looks as he made his way down the escalator in WestQuay with his prop and has taken to filming people’s reactions, but most people had responded positively.

Over the next few weeks the skeleton will be popping up in spots around Southampton and if successful, Joe hopes it can expand to other cities and towns.

“There are a lot of stereotypes about the homeless, they’re all drunks or tramps,” he said. “People need to look at them on the same level as humans.”

Trevor Pickup, chief executive for the Society of St James, said: “The need to support these people is as strong as ever.

“This guerrilla advertising is a contemporary and exciting way of communicating with a new group of people, who we hope will support our work.”