That Sioux Falls paper says someone should be held accountable for the really bad decision to spend $1.4 million on the ridiculous and counterproductive “Meth. We’re On It™” ads. Accountability for this trivializing flop starts at the top:
For that amount of money and the importance of the subject matter, there should be scrutiny upon those who signed off on the premise. Someone listened to a boardroom pitch that most Americans found harebrained and decided to invest state funds to embrace the “I’m On Meth” mantra.
Since Noem is the boss, she has some explaining to do.
We all understand the advertising axiom of “just get them talking about you,” which the governor tried to use as cover for the blunder. That approach makes perfect sense for commercial branding, but this was not about selling breakfast cereal [editorial board, “South Dakota’s Anti-Meth Campaign Is Embarrassing. So Are Our Drug Laws,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2019.11.22].
The editors in our biggest city note that Noem’s launchpad explosion came just a week after a Legislative committee shrugged off an opportunity to make substantive changes to our drug laws or investments in drug treatment:
So a state facing an epidemic of meth and opioid abuse, coupled with laws that lock up common users and encourage recidivism, has decided that minor tweaks to the status quo and a too-clever ad campaign is the way to find daylight amid the darkness.
Do we need to keep hammering this issue until leadership emerges and common sense prevails?
We’re on it [editorial, 2019.11.22].
Maybe Governor Noem thought this seven-figure attention-getter would set the stage for her announcement of a major drug policy initiative in her first annual budget address on Tuesday, December 3. But every good speech coach knows you don’t get up to make a speech with things in your mouth, like gum, a pipe, or your foot. Far from building our trust in her ability to spend money wisely, Governor Noem has shown she can’t be trusted with tax dollars already budgeted for drug interventions, let alone with any new sacks of cash. The Legislature has already shown it’s not inclined to make bold moves on drug policy. If Governor Noem dares ask the Legislature for additional money for drugs, all they’ll hear is her slogan:
It’s not every state that gets a lame duck Governor in her first term. But not every state has a Governor who spends $1.4 million to say “I’m On Meth.”
Related Viewing: Yay, attention! Governor Noem won Donkey of the Day from DJ Envy on The Breakfast Club on Power 105.1 in New York City:
During the summer, Governor Noem opened a Foundation for Government Accountability with the statement, “You know, I don’t remember a time where we didn’t work.” Hey, Kristi: now is that time.
Noem got on France 24, but she couldn’t push above the fold past the Italian Sardine Movement, a UK maternity scandal, protests against government corruption and failure in Haiti, and when she does get mention, it’s of “an anti-drug campaign that’s been getting a great deal of traction, but for the wrong reasons” and “the rather unfortunate pun-intended slogan”:
Related Non-Reading: In response to the biggest headlines South Dakota has gotten this year (and another spot on Saturday Night Live! Yay, attention!), the SDGOP spin blog has said absolutely nothing about the Governor’s spectacular waste of our tax dollars and humiliation of our state since commentarylessly posting the official announcement of the campaign on Monday. Update 11:26 CST: Check that! Powers predictably reposts the Governor’s weekend pablum, in which she baselessly claims her campaign is working but in which she clearly abandons the tagline in favor of this closing line: “Let’s work together to get meth out of South Dakota.” I’ll bet we could have come up with that line for a lot less than $1.4 million.
Kristi:
Making South Dakota the laughing stock of the world.
If you think it was a good idea – tell a State Trooper you are on meth. See what happens then.
They have right to a search warrant and they will test you
When I first read that slogan, I thought it was just some prank that Minnesota was pulling on it’s neighbor, but NOOOO…. ;-)
SNL?! So embarrassing and inept.
Debbo,
Yes, SNL can be embarrassing and inept, but let’s try to stay on topic….;^)
I have been reading some of the remarks in defense of this ad campaign. Many say it was a way to get attention and that it is positive, I disagree. I was visiting our corporate office in Minneapolis to present to our board when this ad campaign came out. I was the butt of all the jokes for the rest of the week. The comments were harmless, but still aggravating. The comments came from the receptionist to the CEO group, all thought it was hilarious and when I was presenting and spoke a bit too fast, well, it couldn’t have been any easier for the good natured ribbing I took all because of “We’re on it”. Before they might have said I had too much coffee or whatever, but those folks saw it as a joke, not a positive thing at all, so I strongly disagree with the defenders that any attention is good attention.