NYC Trashes Litterbugs & ‘Poopetrators’ In Tongue-In-Cheek Citywide Campaign
Image via NYC
New York City is brimming with pizza rats and pretzel rats—the sorts that toss out the paper on the streets without much thought, that is. If you feel personally attacked by this, then you might want to stay inside for the next month as more forms of this shaming will appear throughout the city.
The Department of Sanitation (DSNY) is dumping on citizens who don’t dispose of garbage properly or clean up after their pets on sidewalks—“dog-poopetrators,” in its words—in its first major anti-littering campaign in 15 years.
Developed pro bono by marketing agency VMLY&R, the snarky initiative comes hand in hand with the government’s plans to clean up neglected areas in the five boroughs and clamp down on illegal dumping. Its messaging, accompanied by the all-new We â¤ï¸ NYC logo, will be littered across the city.
The advertisements don’t hold back on the trash-talk, imagining New Yorkers as coffee cups, takeout containers, and cigarette butts, and proclaiming: “If you litter, you’re garbage.” The posters also ask onlookers to “tell ’em where to stick it” if they come across a litterbug in the act.
One amusing visual pictures a dog raking up his own doo-doo, alongside the tagline: “Until they can, it’s on you. Don’t leave **it on the sidewalk.”
“New Yorkers have had enough of litter, enough of filth on our sidewalks, and enough of feeling like there’s nothing they can do about it,” explains Mayor Eric Adams.
DSNY Commissioner Jessica Tisch asserts that although most New Yorkers are considerate and keep paths clean for others, a few still litter. For individuals in the latter camp, “yeah we want to shame them,” she adds, per a statement published on CBS News.
Tisch says the cynical tone of the advertisements fits right into the language of New Yorkers.
Well, it’s time to kick these nasty habits to the curb, and if some feelings are hurt in the process, then so be it.
[via NBC New York and CBS News, images via NYC]
