Metro News Release

For immediate release: December 3, 2004

New Metro campaign discourages eating, drinking, littering in Metro system

A series of four eye-catching and light-hearted posters that remind Metro customers that public ordinance laws prohibit eating, drinking and littering in Metrorail stations and on trains is starting to show up in the Metrorail system.

The public awareness campaign uses humor and a bit of friendly sarcasm to get the point across. For example, one poster states, "If we let people eat and drink on the train, we’d get a lot of new riders." A large color photo of a cockroach appears as the new rider.

All of the public outreach posters include small icons of the prohibited behaviors with the universal symbol of a circle with a slash across those items denoting that they are forbidden. The slogan is surrounded by the tag line, "It’s the law for a good reason." The outreach effort is designed to raise public awareness to the fact that it is illegal to consume food and drink or to litter in the Metro system.

A poster that is aimed at discouraging people from discarding their newspapers on trains and buses states, "In a town like this, you never want to leave a paper trail." An image of a rolled up newspaper that was seemingly tossed aside accompanies the text.

A third poster states, "4 out of 5 dentists recommend gum in your mouth instead of in our trains," and shows a photo of chewing gum stuck on the bottom of a shoe. A fourth awareness poster states, "If you don’t eat on our train seat, we won’t sit on your kitchen table." This poster is illustrated by a half-eaten pile of French fries lying next to a wrapper and some discarded newspapers.

An additional poster, designed not to raise awareness of existing laws, but rather to encourage courteous use of cell phones, sarcastically depicts a person taking loudly into a cell phone accompanied by the words, "Yes, we’re all very interested in what you’re having for dinner tonight." A second line of text encourages Metrorail customers to "Please keep phone conversations to yourself."

News release issued on December 3, 2004.