War on Meth in the Midwest
“Meth. I’m on it.” Is it a cure for the growing meth problem in South Dakota or a catapult for disaster? The “Meth. We’re On It.” campaign produced by the state of South Dakota has received a large number of backlash from the public over a belief the state of South Dakota is furthering the state’s meth problem by publicly saying the people of South Dakota “are on meth.” In reality, with this campaign the state of South Dakota is trying to provoke change within the people of South Dakota and give the rest of the U.S. a “wake up call” on the growing meth epidemic in South Dakota.
Although data shows there is a fewer amount of people who have died from overdosing on meth in comparison to other drugs such as opioids, heroin and cocaine, the number of meth overdoses nationwide have increased drastically between 2016–2017 in comparison to other drugs. In addition, we can gather from this data that the number of people who have overdosed on meth over the last decade has increased by 54%.
With South Dakota’s anti-meth campaign, the state of South Dakota wanted to make a broad statement about the growing meth problem within the state. Despite having less than a million residents living in the state, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem says the meth problem in South Dakota is growing at an alarming rate. In recent data published by the Center of Disease and Control (CDC), meth claims more lives in South Dakota and several other Western states than any other drug. This meth epidemic affects both rural and urban areas across the state.
The urge to tackle meth in South Dakota comes at a point to where the state has noticed the meth epidemic growing at an alarming rate. Gov. Noem stated the problem has been “filling our jails and prisons, clogging our court systems, and stretching our drug treatment capacity while destroying people and their families.” This statement has been backed up with statistics showing that 2,242 arrests were made within the first eight months of 2019. In addition, about 83% of these court admissions for controlled substances were methamphetamine-related.
Above issues arising within the judicial system, the state is more concerned with making their residents aware of the growing problem and want to bring the community together to help fix this problem. The purpose of the “Meth. We’re On It.” campaign is to “empower and establish a movement for all South Dakotans to take an active role in keep our state a great place to live,” according to Lauren Gill, South Dakota Secretary of the Department of Social Services. The campaign intends to encourage community members to take action in their local areas and start a conversation about the meth problem in the state in hopes to provide support to those not only struggling with meth addiction, but addict’s families and loved ones as well.
The “Meth. We’re On It.” campaign utilizes several mediums to bring attention towards the issue through television commercials, radio ads, billboards, and social media. The campaign also has its own website, OnMeth.com, where individuals can visit as a source for finding local resources for either helping tackle the meth problem through volunteer opportunities or helping those who are looking to recover from their meth addiction. The use of these different mediums are meant to tell the story that meth is everyone’s problem, and this problem needs communities to band together in order to end it.
Similar to the picture advertisements created for the “Meth. We’re On It.” campaign, the campaign video featuring several South Dakotans of all ages and professions is trying to convey the same message except with more shock value. In the video, different South Dakotans state they are “on meth.” The commercial concludes that meth isn’t someone else’s problem, but rather it is everyone in South Dakota’s problem. Although the statement “I’m on meth” can be considered a bold, offensive statement to make — especially with having children boldly stating they are on meth, the video is successful in creating shock value across the country and even nationwide, waking up the nation to a problem not everyone was probably aware of existing in such a quiet state as South Dakota.
In retrospect, the online backlash from the public was what the state had intended from the beginning. Based on the governor’s tweets about the campaign, it is safe to say the state and the advertising agency who helped with the campaign had already predicted the public would react strongly about the campaign’s bold statement.
As with every PR campaign, South Dakota’s meth prevention campaign had created a number of different objectives they aimed to complete with this campaign. More than likely, the state had made it a goal to increase awareness among South Dakota residents and across the country of the growing meth problem in South Dakota. I believe the state had create such a bold, cryptic statement as the center of their campaign to raise curiosity amongst South Dakotans and across the country on what the statement is supposed to mean.
The statement “Meth. We’re on it.” can hold a number of different meanings. A large amount of people believe the quote is portraying residents of South Dakota as all being on meth, which is why the campaign has received a large amount of backlash. What I believe what the state is trying to say with “Meth. We’re on it.” is that they recognize the meth problem in South Dakota and want to make an effort to fix it. The statement appears to be a play on words with the phrase “I’m on it” as in stating the state is determined to resolve this problem. This also applies to the several ads picturing South Dakotans saying, “I’m on meth.”
Not only has this campaign been a topic of discussion for audiences across the United States, the “Meth. We’re On It.” campaign has also buzzed through the public relations industry as well. For senior Integrative Public Relations student Alex London, she understands both the audience’s and the state’s overall perspective of the campaign.
The campaign was first brought to London’s attention when the campaign made it to the top of Twitter’s trending list. “I could see why people were angry over it based on how headlines described the campaign,” said London. “I think sometimes PR people forget that not everyone is going to do their research and speak their mind based on what the headline said.” But rather think the campaign was a waste of advertisement dollars like many audiences do, London views the campaign based on her studies during her time at Central Michigan University.
After taking a course on developing a campaign this semester, London can understand how the state could have anticipated their audiences to react to the campaign in the way they did. She said from her experience in developing a campaign, she knows each campaign comes with a variety of objectives that companies must achieve by the end of the campaign. With that being said, she believed the state more than likely had made it a goal of making South Dakotans aware of the meth problem in the state by a certain percentage and attained it with a campaign that would spark resident’s attention.
All countries have problems that affect their communities more than other problems—and the meth problem in South Dakota is no different. Although the numbers on meth overdoses in the state aren’t as tragic as other major drug overdoses, to tackle the meth epidemic in South Dakota before the problem worsens any further shows the state cares deeply for their people and those who are struggling with addiction. The “Meth. We’re On It.” campaign might initially present itself as bizarre and misleading, but if the campaign has done what it was meant to do—make South Dakotans and surrounding states more aware of the meth problem in South Dakota and encourage them to band with their communities to fight against this epidemic—then the campaign cannot be viewed as anything less than successful.
