Working a full 8 hour day on the streets of the financial district, Cheryl Meeker performed an intervention on the biggest shopping day of the year, as a part of the mysterious L7 Group's shopping day art event which included work by 20 artists.
Entitled, Free One Hour Personal Shopping Assistance this piece was performed on November 29, 2000; a date of special significance to the artist as it marked the anniversary of the 1999 Seattle WTO protest, which she attended.
Handing out full color printed cards which were designed by a graphic artist accustomed to working on retail accounts, Meeker offered free shopping assistance to busy Christmas shoppers. Most people took the card, reading it quizzically as they walked away. Others immediately took advantage of the offer to ask for directions to specific stores, or to ask advice about where to purchase particular gifts.
The reverse side of the card contained text which added complexity to the message on the front of the card.
The most interesting part of the day consisted of a conversation with a man who when handed the card, had to put down one of two large shopping bags from the Ralph Lauren store. He returned about 15 minutes after taking the card to let the artist know that he did not agree with the text on the back of the card mentioning the WTO protest and that he had attended the Stanford School of Business. An animated if not heated exchange ensured between shopper and shopping assistant in which the following topics were debated: global warming (he was a skeptic), trade policy, trade unions, shopping, and his surprise and admiration that the artist was actually standing on the street doing something like this.