Miami Beach has new $33M public service campaign

After a wild spring break last year, Miami Beach has a new public service campaign that warns college students, “Enjoy your vacation. Don’t leave on probation!”

It’s part of the city’s $33,000 messaging campaign that some might interpret as an effort to discourage young people from visiting the urban island city during spring break.

In a letter to mayor Dan Gelber and commissioners, Miami Beach City Manager Jimmy Morales detailed the campaign, which will roll out through a mix of local, national and global media outlets and social media channels.

“This new plan is to reach out in advance to as many college students as possible who might be considering Miami Beach as their Spring Break destination to advise them that the MBPD will be rigorously enforcing traffic and qualityof-life laws and ordinances during the spring break period,” Morales wrote in the letter.

The plan includes ads with links to a new website site MBspringbreak.com to educate visitors on what not to do during spring break. Among the activities that are illegal in Miami Beach: drinking in public, smoking pot, driving a scooter in and out of traffic or sidewalks and riding on top of cars. The latter has become a common sight on social media during spring break.

The city manager’s memo also details how there will be more overtime available to boost the number of Miami Beach police officers on the street when college students are in town. Spring break typically peaks in mid-March, but can also spill into April.

The campaign is the city’s latest effort in preparing for the rush of college-age visitors.

The measures are the result of the “challenges of the 2018 spring break,” according to Morales’ memo.