Bad Ads. Part II.

Good news for Virginia Beach.

Looks like our tourism department no longer holds the national prize for Most Boneheaded Ad Underwritten By Taxpayers in American History.

That honor now goes to the state of South Dakota, which just this week unleashed an anti-meth campaign that borders on insane.

“Meth: We’re On It.”

Yep, South Dakota trademarked the slogan. Did they really think other states would steal it?

That’s the best PSA an actual advertising agency could cook up with 450,000 tax dollars.

The ad makes it sound as if the entire state is smoking or snorting meth.

Actually, that’s not far from the truth. According to NBC, anyway:

“In South Dakota, twice as many teenagers ages 12 to 17 reported using meth in the past year than the national average,” Laurie Gill, the state’s Department of Social Services Secretary, told NBC News. Even more, 83 percent of court admissions for controlled substances in 2019 involved meth, and between 2014 and 2018, the state saw a 200 percent increase in people seeking treatment with the primary diagnosis of meth addiction.

“South Dakota’s meth crisis is growing and it is alarming,” Gill said. It's hitting every corner of the state. It’s why her office launched the awareness campaign, and why she is glad people are talking about it, even if they’re making jokes.”

Oh they’re making jokes, all right. 

Twitter was lit this week with critics piling on the unfortunate ad.

Some suggested public service slogans of their own:

Suicide: Just end It.

Heroin: We Need A Fix.

There were oodles of others, but they’re unprintable. Go to Twitter if you’re curious.

Defenders of the meth ad say the national buzz proves the PSA is effective. Sorry, South Dakota. Going viral does not equal success.

Instead, this anti-meth campaign feels like an ad that’s trying way too hard. The minute the governor defended the spot by explaining that all South Dakotans are affected by the meth epidemic, she effectively admitted failure.

In advertising, you never explain.

This isn’t South Dakota’s first rodeo, either. You’d think state officials would have exercised caution after the disastrous 2014 ”Think Before You Jerk” #DontJerkAndDrive campaign aimed at warning drivers not to suddenly swerve on icy roads.

That too-clever ad was pulled quickly. I think you know why.

Compared to those two stinkers, Virginia Beach’s 2019 “Go Beachless” campaign, which tried to entice visitors to the city by urging them not to visit the resort’s best attraction, was not horrendous. Just bad. Very bad.

However, Virginia Beach still holds the record for public money wasted on a failed campaign.

Those cringe-inducing “Go Beachless” spots cost Beach taxpayers a whopping $3.2 million.

By comparison, South Dakota got a bargain.