Finding just the rights word to talk trash

Southeast Missouri is showing just how much it hates trash.

A local campaign to eradicate litter in the area has been underway since March, and to help capture some of this community momentum, the Southeast Missourian sponsored a contest to find the catchiest anti-litter slogan. Twenty-six people and agencies submitted entries before the May 13 deadline.

For the contest, some participants suggested simple slogans such as "Come on man! Throw it in the can!" or "Fight the war on litter. Be a Weapon of Trash Reduction." A few entries made plays on the state motto with slogans like "Show-Me No More Litter" or "Show-Me: A Litter Free State."

Other participants created more full-scale campaigns to fight pollution in the area. Mary Kay Poljan of Cape Girardeau suggested an environmental ad blitz called "Itsacan." Poljan's plan has residents and businesses purchasing and decorating trash cans for public places. She said she got the idea from reading a message in the Southeast Missourian's Speak Out, in which a caller complained that there were few available trash cans downtown.

"It just dawned on me that we could do both at once, and go from litter to glitter, in a way," Poljan said.

Some participants sent designs for anti-litter mascots along with their ideas for a potential slogan. Mascots ranged from a friendly "Litter Bee" to the more menacing "Litter Kitty: Ridding the World of Trash."

Lynne Loveless, also of Cape Girardeau, submitted pictures of her dog, Baby Vanilla Pudding, along with three potential anti-litter slogans. In one of these entries, Baby Vanilla Pudding promises not to "hound" those who don't pollute.

Loveless said she thinks her pet would make a good campaign mascot because many people may have seen her in stores or walking around town pushing the 10-year-old Maltese in a stroller.

"Baby likes to meet new people, and she is a very clean little dog," she said.

Participants as young as 7 sent in contest entries. Ten-year-old Billy Leighton of Cape Girardeau drew a picture of environmentally conscious "Skippy the Squirrel" to go along with the slogan "Don't be mean, keep Cape clean!"

Red Letter Communications, a professional advertising and marketing agency in Cape Girardeau, also joined in the contest by submitting several potential slogans, logos, mascots and advertisments. One advertisement displays two different pictures of the same parking lot, except in one photograph, the area is cluttered with trash. The polluted picture is labeled "Unnatural," and the clean area is labeled "Natural." Both pictures are encompassed by the slogan "Litter: It Just Isn't Natural."

Readers can vote online for the best anti-litter slogan at www.semissourian.com/litter.