Chuggers of the world unite

...And hand over your badges. 
This is a good one for a rant as I'm pretty sure most people will agree.An article published recently in The Guardian prompted me to write about one of those modern trends that everyone seems to hate and yet, after some years now, is still there, much to city-centre visitors and retailers' annoyance. I'm talking about(you may have guessed) the almost universally despised 'chugger'; this word is a neologism that has recently entered the dictionaries and it is used -mostly derogatorily- to describe or refer to charity street fundraisers. The word itself is a blend of the words charity and mugger.
Chuggers are easy to spot: they are mostly smiley and loud young people, wearing badges and colourful charity polyester jackets who will go after their targets by all possible means (I've seen chuggers following passers-by down a busy street shouting and gesturing in quite intimidating ways).
Coincidentally, on the same day I read the mentioned article I- once again - was approached by one of them, thus forcing me to-once again - put in place my now well-learnt and rehearsed strategy to smartly deal with chuggers: make eye contact and with half a smile, simply but firmly say 'sorry, I'm running late to a meeting'. Amazingly, this seems to work and normally the chugger will leave me alone and even wish me a nice day.
Other people, fed up with being disturbed so often in rather rude ways,have taken a more aggressive approach and I don't blame them.
What I fail to understand though, is how any charity can see this as a way of promoting and raising awareness about whatever cause they defend. Most people dislike being patronised and treated the way some charity 'volunteers' act and a quick visit to forums and sites where the topic is discussed confirmed this perception.People don't seem to appreciate their presence and attitude, if those forums and articles are to be believed. 
Some charities argue that street fundraising is a way of reaching a public they wouldn't otherwise. That is fair enough but I wonder if a few new sign-ups offset the hugely negative publicity that this 'in your face' strategy is giving them. 
Some UK city councils (Burnley, Rugby and Gloucester among others) have already or are considering taking steps to either reduce or regulate the presence of charity workers on their streets.
So, will we see one day all the chuggers of the world handing their badges over?
Would it be worth trying other strategies? I suggest they set up a small stall and offer a  nice cup of tea and a bit of sympathy instead...that would surely be a better approach, don't you think?