Well, I think I’ve come up with my 2009 resolution. It combines something I’m not sure I’m capable of, with something I’d really like to do, with something I really think should be done. What more could I want?
I’ve decided (and it’s okay to think I’m crazy; I think I’m crazy too) to try to come up with an advertising campaign about litter in Texas. Something to update the old “Don’t Mess with Texas” campaign. Because the amount of litter in this state is just sick.
I’ve never lived in a place that had so much garbage just laying around. It’s by the side of the road. It’s down river beds. It’s in open fields. And people seem to have no sense of shame about it. I’ve seen people clean their cars out driving down the freeway. I’ve seen people leave beer bottles, piles of cigarette butts and dirty diapers in parking lots. Which to me is a total WTF?. Walk ten feet to the garbage can, for crying out loud. Okay, you don’t want it in your car. But I don’t want it in my state either.
So there has to be something that changes attitudes. Because people talk a good game about loving this state. But when it comes to keeping it clean, Texans are all hat and no cattle. I mean would you treat something you’re proud of that way? Hell no.
And I’ve always thought I’d be a good advertising person, if it wouldn’t make me feel like a minion of Satan to use my powers of persuasion to get people to buy corn syrup and SUVs. But this is something I can get behind. I can be persuasive. I just need to use my power for good and not evil.
I don’t know if I’ll come up with anything that would really work. I don’t know if anybody would listen to me if I did come up with something that would work. I don’t know if I could convince an entire state that eco friendly isn’t just shopping bags and light bulbs. But I don’t have to resolve to succeed. I just have to resolve to try. I have to try.
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4 comments:
I can't stand highway litterers - the WORST. Enough to make an old Indian cry.
Evidently the book "Yes" has a big section on why the crying Indian campaign worked really well for a littl while, then stopped working entirely. I have to say that those commercials were on in my formative years, and I really, really don't want to make him sad.
Did you know that actor was not even a Native American?! But yes, I think it hit us hard eing like 3-5 when it came out - for the older folks, it may have been "whatever" after seeing it a few times.
I had heard something about him not being a Native American. Still got to me like crazy.
Just getting it second hand, I think Yes was saying that since the crying Indian operated on guilt it burned out after awhile. Most people can't take feeling guilty about something for very long, and eventually they tune it out because they don't want to feel bad.
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