Whether its reducing trash or reinforcing Texans’ hubris, “Don’t mess with Texas” has, in the words of McClure,“ so reached into Texans’ DNA that I think they just feel like it’s been around forever.

read the short article The Trashy Beginnings of “Don’t Mess With Texas” from Smithsonian Magazine. Please write an essay of about 250 words which summarizes the origins of the popular phrase. Please submit your essay to the Turnitin link found in the course module when complete.The Trashy Beginnings of “Don’t Mess With Texas”A true story of the defining phrase of the Lone Star stateNew “Don’t mess with Texas” trash cans at the Texas capitol building in Austin. (Texas Departmentof Transportation )By Katie Nodjimbademsmithsonianmag.comMarch 10, 2017The indoctrination to love and live Texas begins at a young age in the Lone Star State. Beginning in earlychildhood, Texans learn to “Remember the Alamo,” chant the seemingly infinite lyrics to “Deep in the Heart ofTexas,” and recite the pledge of allegiance to the Texas flag—after, of course, pledging to the American flag.Most people quickly learn to “hook ‘em,” “gig ‘em” “sic ‘em” or put their “guns up” based on family loyalties totheir respective Texas universities.But “Don’t mess with Texas” is a phrase that inspires Texans of all regions and all alma maters and incites massderision from the rest of the country. Although this mark of Texas swagger is used to elicit Texas pride in amyriad of situations, it was, and continues to be, a relatively trashy call to arms. Literally. The slogan wasdeveloped by the Texas Department of Transportation for an anti-littering campaign.“It’s not just a prideful remark, trying to pick a fight,” says Jeff Austin III, commissioner on the TexasTransportation Commission. “It’s don’t litter in Texas, don’t mess up Texas. We want to keep it a beautiful state.Texas is our home.”In the late 1980s, the Texas Department of Transportation had a mess on its hands. It was spending $20 millionannually on trash pick-up, and that number was increasing by about 17 percent year over year. Trash littered thehighways and it only seemed to be getting worse – everything is bigger in Texas, after all. So the department putout a request for a marketing campaign to address the rubbish.1.5K 2.6K 2 45/29/2020 The Trashy Beginnings of “Don’t Mess With Texas” | History | Smithsonian Magazinehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/trashy-beginnings-dont-mess-texas-180962490/ 2/3Tim McClure and his colleagues at Austin-based advertising agency GSD&M were just a few weeks away fromthe deadline, without a clever concept to pitch. On an early morning walk, McClure noted the trash in his ownneighborhood and thought, “This is a mess,”—just like his mother used to say about his childhood bedroom.That’s when it hit him that his team was going about this the wrong way. Texans don’t talk about “litter” in theirdaily lives but they do say “mess,” and just like that “Don’t mess with Texas” was born.Along with the agency’s catchy slogan came hard data indicating whom the campaign should target. Researchcompiled by Daniel B. Syrek, a Californian who specialized in measuring trash, indicated that young menbetween the ages of 16 and 24 were the major perpetrators.Within a month of convincing the department to invest in “Don’t mess with Texas,” McClure and his team werestashing bumper stickers spouting the slogan in truck stops and fast food restaurants, places frequented by theirtarget demographic. But this paraphernalia wasn’t labeled as from the TxDOT and had no clear indication aboutits true meaning, an intentional ploy by McClure.“We thought the way to get it into the public’s consciousness quickest was to let Texans own it,” says McClure. “Idon’t think they would have put something that said ‘Don’t Litter Texas.’ ‘Don’t Trash our State.’ I don’t thinkthey’d do it, but because it had that Texas bravado to it they adopted ‘Don’t mess with Texas’ as their own battlecry.”The campaign officially launched on New Years Day, 1986, during the television broadcast of the 50th annualCotton Bowl. That year’s game, held as always in Dallas, saw Texas A&M trounce Auburn and its HeismanTrophy-winning running back, Bo Jackson. Viewers saw a commercial starring Texas blues musician Stevie RayVaughan strumming a guitar in front of a large Texas flag at the Austin City Limits studio. A narrator’s voicedrifts over the music reminding the audience of the expense and illegality of littering. The spot ends withVaughan’s unwavering command, “Don’t mess with Texas.”So well-received was the commercial that viewers started calling their local television stations asking for the“music video” that played during the Cotton Bowl. By the end of that year, the agency released four morecommercials starring singers and athletes, plus a radio advertisement.And it worked. When Syrek counted Texas trash one year later, he found a 29 percent reduction in litter on theroad. The next year it was down 54 percent and by 1990, it was down 72 percent from 1986. The campaigncontinues today, featuring many famous Texas faces from Willie Nelson to Erykah Badu to MatthewMcConaughey.And Texans really have adopted the phrase as a battle cry. In his acceptance speech at the 2000 RepublicanNational Convention, then-Texas Governor George W. Bush dropped the line in his mention of the late BobBullock, who died while serving as Bush’s lieutenant governor in Texas.Fans of the University of Texas at Austin paired the phrase with the school’s signature burnt orange on t-shirts,and in recent years, advocates for women’s health in Texas have doctored the phrase to read “Don’t mess withTexas women” to use on protest posters.It wasn’t until 2002 that the Texas Department of Transportation trademarked the phrase to receive royalties fromits use. They’ve engaged in a few lawsuits since, as in 2012 when author Christie Craig titled her racy romancenovel Don’t Mess with Texas. Reasonably, the Texas government wasn’t keen on associating its precious sloganwith the story of the late-night shenanigans between a woman suspected of murdering her philandering boyfriendand a private investigator out to prove her innocence. The state won the case and Craig renamed her book Only inTexas.Today, special “Don’t mess with Texas” trashcans are sprinkled around the state, commercials still run and there’splenty of merchandise to be purchased. Plus, the state is still measuring “visible litter” on roadways. Mostrecently, in 2013 Sherry Matthews Advocacy Marketing conducted a study in which researchers concluded that434,509,848 pieces of visible litter accumulate on Texas roads each year. According to the study, this was a 34percent reduction from the study conducted in 2009.5/29/2020 The Trashy Beginnings of “Don’t Mess With Texas” | History | Smithsonian Magazinehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/trashy-beginnings-dont-mess-texas-180962490/ 3/3Whether its reducing trash or reinforcing Texans’ hubris, “Don’t mess with Texas” has, in the words of McClure,“ so reached into Texans’ DNA that I think they just feel like it’s been around forever.”About Katie NodjimbademKatie was formerly the staff reporter for Smithsonian magazine.