A new state-wide anti-littering campaign is targeting teenagers and young adults with billboards and air play on channels such as MTV, BET, and Comedy Central.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation says national studies show that 16 to 34-year-olds liter the most.
The program is the largest state anti-liter campaign since the 1970s.
Shawn Bible of the Metro Beatification and Environment Commission says the straightforwardness of the “StopLitter” campaign reflects how Tennesseans feel.
“It just says stop it. Tennessee has had enough. It’s not for instance—there was a campaign years ago that was ‘pretty please clean Tennessee now’ so this isn’t that kind of campaign. This at least has a hard hitting message.”
A tax on the beer and soft drink industry is helping fund the $250,000 undertaking.
The new billboards are up and the TV spots are scheduled to air in early June.