LevLane enlists street poets to clean up the streets - Un Litter Us

The City of Philadelphia Recycling Office’s largest-ever anti-litter campaign consists solely of the spoken word compositions and performances of five Philly street poets, each accompanied by either congas, acoustic bass, or saxophone. The campaign is the work of advertising agency LevLane, Phila., and is part of a city-wide neighborhood improvement initiative by Mayor Michael A. Nutter.

The poetry performances were chosen for power, not prettiness. There's power in Denice's smirk-dimple here folks.

The campaign’s ad media executions include 5 each of TV :30s, radio :60s, and transit posters. The campaign will also include street poetry events, Facebook and Twitter presences, signage-designated “Litter Free School Zones,” and (under the auspices of Commmunity Marketing Concepts, Phila.) block-by-block community mobilization drives.

The enlistment of authentic Philadelphia street poets derives from the idea that litter is corrosive to a community’s emotional well-being, and that any effective voice for its elimination must be emotional and above all, peer-to-peer. From the 75 spoken word performers (identified mostly through neighborhood high school and college poetry programs, and on late-night public radio) who composed and auditioned their own anti-litter messages, 5 were selected. Their 27-second poems (longer for online) make up the total campaign. Its only other words are the unspoken, agency-written, closing tag, “Un Litter Us.”