New York City Department of Sanitation Shames ‘Garbage’ New Yorkers with Latest Campaign

Amid noticeable and documented improvements in the cleanliness of New York neighbourhoods, one crisis persists: the preponderance of litter and dog waste on our sidewalks. Today, the New York City Department of Sanitation, in collaboration with the Partnership for New York City, launched a substantial marketing campaign to shame these "garbage" New Yorkers – litterers and dog-poopetrators – once and for all. This is the first major anti-littering campaign by DSNY in at least 15 years.

“New Yorkers have had enough of litter, enough of filth on our sidewalks, and enough of feeling like there's nothing they can do about it,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “This administration has committed to ‘Get Stuff Clean,’ and our strategy is working, but we need everyone to do their part, and that's what this campaign is all about.”

“Since the start of this administration, Mayor Adams has unleashed a tidal wave of cleanliness on our City, and the crest of this wave is finally hitting our streets – yet some people continue to fail in their basic duty to keep our neighborhoods clean by littering or not cleaning up after their dog. I don’t know why they do it, and frankly, I don’t care why they do it. All I know is, if I see someone littering, I’ll tell them where to stick it,” said Jessica Tisch, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Sanitation.

“If we want a clean city, every New Yorker needs to do their part,” said Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City. “The Department of Sanitation has upped their game, but they need our help! We’re asking New Yorkers to get engaged in the future of our city at welovenyc.nyc.”

This ad campaign, designed pro bono in a collaboration between brand and customer experience agency VMLY&R and the Department of Sanitation, is intended to enlist all New Yorkers in the work of calling out the offensive behavior that continues to disrupt the cleanliness of our streets. They will run on bus shelters and LinkNYC kiosks across the five boroughs for the remainder of April.

“New Yorkers don’t sugarcoat things. We say what we mean. The tone in these ads speak like New Yorkers: blunt, direct and with a little bit of wit to serve as a reminder that Real New Yorkers don’t sit around and wait for others to pick **it up,” added Wayne Best, chief creative officer, VMLY&R New York.

This ad campaign comes at a time of great strategic realignment for DSNY around the core mission of cleanliness. As part of Mayor Adams’ commitment to Get Stuff Clean, DSNY is now cleaning more than 1,500 long-ignored areas across the City, cracking down on the scourge of illegal dumping, and getting us clean and accessible streets by substantially changing the hours at which trash are set out – and how it is collected.