Salford City Council is proposing what it calls a 'hard hitting campaign across the city to deter littering'...and has asked the community to vote on two "creative campaign concepts"...both of which have already been mocked by members of the Salford Online Facebook group.
Litter campaign 1 sees five slogans in pink boxes calling Salford people 'Stupid'...
"Stupid dropped her plastic bottle on the floor...Don't be stupid. Put your litter in a bin or take it home with you"... "Stupid left his burger wrapper on the grass in Peel Park...Don't be stupid. Put your litter in a bin or take it home with you..." etc
Litter campaign 2 also see five slogans in pink boxes urging 'R'Kid', 'Mate', 'Boss', 'Bro' and 'love' to "Pick it up"..."only losers' [apostrophe???] chuck rubbish on the floor, put it in the bin..." etc.
The options were posted on the Facebook site Salford Online today by Councillor Sharmina August* and the response has generally been one of scorn...
"So it's only males who litter??? For a party who is trying to get rid of all male dominance buzz words..." writes Kevin...
"These slogans are extremely sexist, whomever came up with them needs to have a few words with themselves" writes Karl "This reminds me of that time my friend's dad tried to talk like a teenager to fit in with us when we were thirteen, the problem is he spoke like a teenager from his generation and we all ended up thinking he was a bit of a weirdo...
"If I was to call someone LOVE in the tone implied on that mock poster I would be called a sexist condescending pig" he adds "The tone and the wording is completely wrong..."
Karen agrees "Every single one is cringe"...while Mandi asks "Surely this is a wind up? People actually get paid to produce this 'rubbish'..." And Heather agrees "That's the most cringey thing I've ever seen...as if someone from the council trying to be 'down with the kids' is going to stop littering..."
Dee, meanwhile is "saddened to say it but I know many people who would get angered by these signs and it would just make them more likely to litter because you're calling them stupid. I do agree they are stupid to litter when bins are so readily available, but it probably isn't the best way to encourage people to pick up their rubbish..."
Tracey finds the slogans "insulting and humiliating- if people who read PICK UP YOUR LITTER still throw litter in the floor - grammatically coming down to their level won't work either!"
And Shelley insists they are an "incredibly ill thought out set of posters. Sexist for a start. And most should be gender neutral, rather than referring to him/her. He did that, well I'm not a he...doesn't apply to me. Nasty, off-putting by telling people they're stupid. This does not resonate with the people they need to reach. It gets people's backs up. Whomever they hired to create this campaign should be fired..."
Some have come up with their own solutions... Roz decides "Bro?? Really?? What about 'Take your crap home with you, scruffy t#^t?', while Steve adds "Drop your shit, expect a 1 year community street cleaning sentence"...
And Laura concludes "A campaign in schools and maybe a competition for schools to win things such as sports equipment or playground equipment. For those that collect the most rubbish in their communities. If children pick it up they may be less likely to dump it in the first place. I really think education is key..." Is that for the community or the Council?
To see the rubbish slogans and vote or otherwise – click here and send comments to luis.troyano@salford.gov.uk
* Councillor August wishes to point out that she is not supporting the litter campaign, she just posted the link.
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