“Don’t Mess with Texas”
The commercial “Don’t mess with Texas including Matthew McConaughey in 2000, makes the argument that a person caught littering in Texas will suffer consequences to their own physical health. The commercial was the product of an extensive public education campaign put on by the Texas Highway commission to reduce littering on highways by targeting the offenders that did it. In this commercial they gave littering offenders to an extreme consequence if caught. It portrayed that if they were caught they would be shot with a poisonous dart and kidnapped with other violators and stamped on their forehead that they messed with Texas and trucked out of the state lines. The campaign goal was to bring awareness to the slogan “Don’t mess with Texas" that would lead to cleaner highways and a healthier state to live in. The overall purpose of the commercial was to educate the audience that littering was no longer a minor offense but one of consequence. The attended audience of this public educating commercial was all Texans and in particular Texas drivers. The commercial did not air that long because it ended up getting banned for being too violent for television. It did last a few years showing in rated “R” theater previews.
The commercial does not use a lot of logos or facts to support the claim that the litter offenders will be shipped out of Texas, but it drives the audience to think logically, that if they do not litter in the first place then they will not have to risk the chance of being caught. The audience knows to conclude that the consequence is just and fair and the aim of the commercial was prevention in the first place.
In the commercial clip, Matthew McConaughey’s character displayed ethos in a many ways to help portray the argument. First he catches the audiences’ attention and second he evoked two kind of ethos. When the scene begins the audience is immediately fixed by his uncalled for actions and it end with his tone of voice saying “Don’t mess with Texas” that really catches the attention showing them he was worth of their time and he is serious about the cause. McConaughey’s character was relatable because of the knowledge of the first kind of ethos called situated. All Texans are aware that McConaughey is from Texas and it is apart of his reputation and actions that the audience believes in the campaign he is trying to sell. The second type of ethos he provides is Invited. For this commercial, we see his argument as an over exaggerated punishment to show the seriousness of littering, but behind the exaggeration the commercial wants to simply educate the public to get more involved in their cause.
The commercial drives a lot on pathos. The audience’s values and emotions are what makes a product or campaign sell. In this, we see an audience’s action of shock after watching a violent punishment, but by doing so it allowed the viewers to think deeply about the real intent. In the End, the goal was clearly to instill a pride for the state and change to values of the viewers to not litter and “not mess with Texas” but keep the state clean and healthy.
In conclusion the campaign was effective in making Texas drivers aware of the slogan and cause. According to “Don’t mess with Texas”, The number of Texans who know “Don’t Mess with Texas” means “don’t litter” recently spiked by about 20 percent. Today, eight out of 10 (82 percent) Texans know what the slogan means compared to 71 percent in 2005. (2009 Litter Attitudes and Behaviors Study). The Effectiveness of the commercial could also be true even though I was banned from Television for violence, that the audience knew the seriousness of littering and the aim at Texas pride toward keeping the state clean and healthy.
Work Cited:
"New Research: Food-Related Trash Down 76 percent in Texas; Tobacco Trash Leads To Overall Litter Increase" Dontmesswithtexas.org. Don't Mess with Texas: 25 years .
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