South Dakota's governor announced a new anti-meth campaign Monday, but the wording of the slogan designed to stop the rise of the drug's use has residents confused -- and social media is having a field day.
Gov. Kristi Noem's campaign included television advertising, billboards, posters and a website.
The slogan? "Meth. We're On It," the Argus Leader of Sioux Falls reported.
"I do not think it means what they think it means," one person tweeted.
That was the gentlest rebuke. Many on social media wondered if the intended phrase was something like, "Meth. We're On Top Of It."
The campaign's motto features the phrase, "Meth. We're on it," over an outline of South Dakota, with people of different ages, genders and races repeating the phrase, the Argus Leader reported.
Broadhead Co., a marketing and advertising agency in Minneapolis, created the slogan, the newspaper reported. According to South Dakota's Department of Social Services, the ad agency was paid nearly $449,000 this fall to produce the campaign.
South Dakota's methamphetamine crisis is "growing at an alarming rate" and impacts every community in the state, Noem said in the campaign's public service announcement.
A new website, OnMeth.com, features resources for to help meth users seek help, KSFY reported.
“South Dakota’s meth crisis is growing at an alarming rate,” Noem said. “It impacts every community in our state and threatens the success of the next generation. It is filling our jails and prisons, clogging our court systems, and stretching our drug treatment capacity while destroying people and their families. This is our problem, and together, we need to get on it.”
The state's 2020 budget also includes $1 million for meth treatment services and more than $730,000 for school-based meth prevention programming, the Argus Leader reported.
Here is a sampling of reaction on Twitter.
About the Author
