‘Don’t mess with Texas’ celebrates 20 years of cleaning up

The “Don’t mess with Texas” anti-littering campaign made its debut during the broadcast of the Cotton Bowl in 1986; the first PSA featured the late blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the campaign, Texas has gathered up all sorts of celebrities, including Owen Wilson, Lance Armstrong, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Matthew McConaughey and Los Lonely Boys, who all say they “wouldn’t do it” in a new TV spot. The “On the Air” section of the Web site includes all the new radio and TV spots, as well as photos from the shoots and an archive of past spots. Littering has dropped dramatically in Texas in recent years, and yet surveys show more than half of Texans still admit to littering, most of them under the age of 25.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

April 24, 2006 | Permalink