TRASH TALK
Story and photographs by Rani Birchfield
D
ON’T MESS WITH TEXAS.
Remember that ad campaign?
The one born in 1985 in an
attempt to clean up Texas roadways?
The catchy phrase was pasted on red,
white and blue trashcans throughout the
stated and backed up by billboards and
commercials featuring appearances by
top Texas names. The first TV commer-
14
cial aired in 1986 during the Cotton
Bowl. It featured blues guitarist Stevie
Ray Vaughan picking “The Eyes of
Texas” on his strings and was a huge hit.
Seen as risqué during the preview at
TxDOT headquarters due to Vaughan’s
earrings and shaggy hair (it was still the
conservative 80s), they aired it anyway,
the ad exec assuring them that the target
Cenizo
First Quarter 2019
audience would be reached. Within
minutes after airing, stations were get-
ting calls to repeat the “music video.”
Since then, dozens of famous people
have been recruited to get people’s atten-
tion about littering. Everyone from
Chuck Norris, Leann Rimes, Shamu,
Joe Ely, Eryka Badu, Matthew
McConaughey and Earl Campbell to
monsters, bikers, cowboy poets, Willie
Nelson and George Strait.
In 2011 an article in Texas Monthly
reported that the “Don’t Mess With
Texas” slogan:
“has even been voted America’s
favorite slogan, beating out commer-
cial marketing behemoths “Just
Do It” and “Got Milk?” in the