FP Series #654 - Tim McClure Traditional Cache
Hidden : 1/19/2011
Difficulty:
3.5 out of 5
Terrain:
3.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


Six Hundred FiftyFourth in the Famous People (FP) Series - Tim McClure
When the slogan “Don’t Mess With Texas” first appeared, in January 1986, no one could have guessed just how popular a message from the Texas Department of Transportation would be—or how effective.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: Never kick a cow chip on a hot day. Always dance with the one that brung ya. And don’t mess with Texas. But where does this wisdom come from? In the case of that last one, it began in 1985, when Tim McClure, of the Austin advertising giant GSD&M, was trying to devise a slogan to pitch to the State Department of Highways and Public Transportation—now the Texas Department of Transportation—for its new anti-littering campaign. Research showed that the main culprits were young truck-driving males, and McClure needed a catchphrase that would grab their attention.

“I was up before dawn one day, walking outside and racking my brains for the right words,” recalls McClure, who grew up in East Texas. “As I was walking, I noticed that even the sides of the road in my nice neighborhood were piled with trash. It made me mad. That’s when it hit me: Texans wouldn’t call this litter. The only time I’d ever used the word ‘litter’ was with puppies and kittens. Instead I was reminded of what my mom used to say about my room growing up. Real Texans would call this a mess.”

Almost immediately, four simple words—“Don’t mess with Texas”—coalesced in his mind, and a battle cry was born. Since then, the phrase has become embedded in the collective psyche not just of Texans but of the whole country.

The success of the campaign wasn’t always a given. Doris Howdeshell, the director of TxDOT’s travel information division, remembers when the kickoff TV spot—which featured blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan playing an electrifying rendition of “The Eyes of Texas”—was previewed at the agency’s headquarters. “This was still the conservative eighties, and the image of shaggy-haired, earring-wearing Stevie made the executive director nervous. When the spot was over, he was silent. Then he said, ‘Well, I don’t think I like it.’ ”

“Good!” came the response. “You’re not the target audience!” Sure enough, in the minutes after Vaughan’s performance was first televised, during the 1986 Cotton Bowl, TV stations across the state were flooded with calls from viewers requesting that the new “music video” be shown again. It wasn’t long before an entire host of Texas celebrities, from the Texas Tornados and Willie Nelson to Warren Moon and George Foreman, were volunteering their time and image for anti-littering ads. They would be followed over the years by the likes of Joe Ely, LeAnn Rimes, Erykah Badu, Owen Wilson, Matthew McConaughey, Chamillionaire, and, most recently, George Strait.

This pill bottle cache kicks off a look back at 25 years of litter and legends. The campaign that took not only our state by storm, but became recognized throughout the nation. We will chronicle stories (or more accurately plagiarize articles from Texas Monthly) of many celebrities who appeared in the commercials. Hopefully each of these caches will prompt us to pick up some of the *mess* as we go along.

Samuell Farm is open Wednesday thru Sunday from 9-5. There are plenty of different directions to approach this location from, none of them along any marked trails that I am aware of. I came at it from the east, from the hidden duck pond.

Cache placed as part of the Mesquite Rejuvenation Project


 GPSr Accuracy 9.0'
Avoid the use of acronym only logs and cut 'n paste logs. You must sign the log to claim the find. No exceptions, no excuses.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Qba'g trg ybbcrq

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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