The Litter Quitters Campaign
Involving high schools and students in a contest to create the most popular anti-litter video in Jefferson County is a fun and effective way to help more people understand how harmful litter is to our way of life but getting the word out to even more people is important too. When enough funding is received the Litter Quitters Campaign includes a 30-second student featured television ad, a 30-second radio spot, and 3 digital billboards. While the videos in the Litter Quitters Video Competition get several thousand views, utilizing the media to promote this same message through the voices of students will reach many more hundreds of thousands of people in Jefferson County over a period of several months.
Student Featured TV Ad
The Litter Quitters Committee partners with several local TV stations in Birmingham that feature the paid message. These ads are positioned to reach a wide range of demographics and run in a variety of time slots. Paid messages on TV are one of the most effective ways to reach large portions of the population. Unfortunately, large portions of the population litter either unintentionally or tragically intentionally. Because of this, we are using this campaign to help change minds and behaviors to make littering a thing of the past. The TV ad features a mashup of local high school students telling viewers that littering is harmful to people and animals, that it’s expensive to clean up, and that action of littering is just plain stupid. This ad reaches hundreds of thousands of people in Jefferson County, so the goal is to create an awareness that littering is very consequential (cost, health, aesthetics, environment) for everyone. After all, having our local governments use our hard-earned tax dollars to clean up after you, me, and many other people who should know better is a silly waste of money. You can watch the latest TV ad/ PSA here.
​
Radio Ad
When additional funding is allowed, the Committee is also able to create an paid ad for local radio listeners. Typically, the Committee will choose a station like WBHJ – FM JAMZ / BMR that is aimed at younger listeners in the local market. And since this is an anti-litter campaign, what better media to use than radio since many people listen while driving their cars; which is also the same place from which they litter. See the connection? Part of our goal is to redirect the trash to its proper place in the trash can, which happen to be at every gas station. The radio spot also explains how littering is harmful to people and animals, how it’s expensive to clean up, and how it’s just plain stupid. You can hear the latest radio Ad / PSA below.
Social Media
Luckily, we also have social media tools right at our fingertips. Almost everyone is on some type of social media today, so of course we use this tool to further push out our media campaign. Many of our committee members and their agencies have social media pages which we are able to utilize and share information. In addition, Litter Quitters itself has an Instagram profile for users to follow too.
Billboards
For the past few years, the Committee has been able to work closely with Mashburn Outdoor. Their three digital billboards are located on I-65 southbound near the Greensprings exit, I-65 northbound near the Greensprings exit, and on Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. South near Vulcan Park. The billboards in these locations are viewed by thousands of motorists each day. You can find the latest billboards featured here on our website.
As the Committee grows, our goal is to continually develop new ideas and expand the media strategies we have set forth. Like our Ads / messages / PSAs state, Littering is stupid! And it’s our goal to help inform and inspire change in everyone not only to keep our water and environment clean, but protect our neighbors downstream.