4 words branded state’s identity
‘Don’t Mess With Texas’ lives on after 30 years
Since the Texas Department of Transportation first unveiled “Don’t Mess With Texas” as part of a anti-littering campaign during the Cotton Bowl game 30 years ago, the iconic slogan has morphed into the state’s unofficial motto and become such a powerful marketing device that TxDOT was forced years ago to register the trademark.
Credited with bringing about a 72 percent reduction in litter in its first six years, “Don’t Mess With Texas” has become a popular hashtag, shown up in a Stephen King novel and served, lest anyone forget in this political season, as a line in Gov. George W. Bush’s acceptance speech at the 2000 Republican convention.
It all began with Tim McClure, a Texas ad man bothered by trash in his own Austin neighborhood.
To get Texans to stop tossing trash out their windows as they whizzed along the state’s highways, McClure knew the message had to resonate on a deeper level than simply being tidy. The word “litter” would just remind people of kitty cleanup, and cartoon animals that may work elsewhere just wouldn’t make sense in the Lone Star State.
Instead, this had to be big. Think Jimi Hendrix squealing out the national anthem on his guitar. Think Texas pride. When the first commercial aired during the 1986 Cotton Bowl, Stevie Ray Vaughan strumming a blues-inspired rendition of “The Eyes of Texas” with a wall-sized Texas flag behind him, people noticed. As he held onto the last note, a single sentence before the screen went to black: Don’t mess with Texas.
Phone lines at TV stations broadcasting the
Texas A&M vs. Auburn showdown lit up with viewers asking if they would play that music video again. But it wasn’t a music video. It was the start of an unimaginably successful campaign and battle cry that’s the rival of “I (heart) New York” and “Virginia is for Lovers.
A statewide effort
In 1985, litter along Texas roadways was a big problem. Taxpayers forked over about $20 million for highway cleanup, a cost expected to increase 17 percent a year. The Texas Department of Transportation wanted to do something about it. They enlisted McClure’s ad agency, GSD&M.
The trash in McClure’s neighborhood reminded him of something his mother used to tell him every day of his teenage years, “Son, your room is a mess.” It dawned on him: Now that’s something a Texan would say.
“I knew we needed to reach into the DNA of Texans, touch their sense of pride,” said McClure, co-founder of GSD&M. He coupled this with data from the Institute for Applied Research that revealed that males ages 16-24 were the biggest litter culprits. He wanted to show them how uncool it was to litter one’s own homestead by using celebrities such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, people the audience already considered heroes, in the hopes they would follow suit.
It worked. The Institute for Applied Research was responsible for calculating the 72 percent decline in litter during the campaign’s first six years.
“The slogan played into people’s perceptions that Texas is a place that, if you start trouble, you’re likely to get something back,” said Garth Jowett, a professor at the University of Houston. “It’s a pretty stern warning.”
Ads over the years have featured everything from the Creature from the Black Lagoon to country music singer LeAnn Rimes. The creature was supposed to emerge from the water, see a littered beach and sub- merge himself once more. After the actor in the classic costume didn’t come up after 30 seconds, a rescue team had to pull him out. On the second take, he decided to only stay down for 15 seconds, from which he could emerge successfully. Then 16-year-old Rimes belted out her tune in one take.
Slight disconnection
In 2015, TxDOT enlisted Willie Nelson again for a new commercial and social media campaign, where people tagged photos to Instagram and Facebook with #dontmesswithtexas. A search on Instagram pulls up more than 70,000 photos, many of which have nothing to do with litter.
That’s OK with McClure. He knows the unofficial state slogan initially sounds like typical Texas bravado but hopes people later connect it to the anti-littering campaign.
The disconnect wasn’t OK with TxDOT. The agency filed to register the trademark in 2000 and has sent out dozens of ceaseand-desist letters to groups attempting to plaster the slogan on belt buckles, romance novels and T-shirts. As Jenevieve Maerker of the website Business Advisor wrote, “It seems that TxDOT is doing an effective job of keeping not only the state’s highways but also its image, and the trademark registry, clean.”
In 2013, TXDOT announced it would start selling licensed merchandise in rest stops and travel
“The slogan played into people’s perceptions that Texas is a place that, if you start trouble, you’re likely to get something back. It’s a pretty stern warning.” Garth Jowett, UH professor
information centers. “Don’t mess with Texas” merchandise generated $32,000 in revenue last year, according to spokeswoman Veronica Beyer.
A friendly reminder
Jowett thinks the slogan still has panache, but it may need to be reconnected with its original meaning. People may buy a refrigerator magnet that tells them “Don’t Mess with Texas,” but seeing trash strewn alongside interstates shows him the connection may need reinforcing. Robin Blut with the organization Keep Houston Beautiful said there’s still a moderate amount of litter on Houston streets.
While 30 years is an eternity in the advertising world, some people assume the slogan is older. In Stephen King’s novel “11/22/63,” a
time traveler goes back to Dallas to try to stop the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In one scene, a man goes to the State Fair in Dallas and buys a Lone Star flag with the inscription, “Don’t mess with Texas.”
McClure, who’s since written a book, sent a signed copy of “Don’t Mess with Texas: The Story Behind the Legend” to King’s agent, with a note. The note said if someone had found a flag with that inscription 20 years before he thought of it, it really would have been time travel. He hasn’t heard back. He actually prefers if it’s never corrected.
“It’s great,” he said. “People will think it’s been around for all time.”