'Meth. We're on it,' South Dakota's government declares in new ad campaign

A new ad campaign aimed at tackling South Dakota's methamphetamine crisis has succeeded in garnering a great deal of attention, both in the state and across the nation with its catchy tagline: "Meth. We're on it."

What are the details?

The campaign was launched Monday, and includes a television ad, billboards, posters, and a website, onmeth.com, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. The state's Department of Social Services shelled out $450,000 in taxpayer funds to the marketing firm that came up with the motto — but critics aren't so sure about the messaging.

The television ad shows a series of everyday folks declaring, "I'm on meth," with a voice-over saying, "Meth is not someone else's problem. It's everyone in South Dakota's problem, and we need everyone to get on it."

Gov. Kristi Noem (R) explained in a roll-out video that "South Dakota's meth crisis is growing at an alarming rate. It impacts every community in our state, and it threatens the success of our next generation. This is our problem, and together, we need to get on it."

The governor — notably — did not say that she is on meth.

In a second video, Gov. Noem added that the "I'm on meth" tagline means that "each one of us — no matter who we are — that we're on the case of meth, that we're protecting our family, we're protecting our friends, we're protecting our communities from this epidemic that we see and that we're all going to be taking some responsibility in battling it."

Anything else?

Predictably, the internet went wild over the campaign within hours of its release, with critics calling the motto a public relations failure, others admitting that the message certainly grabbed their attention, and some arguing that there is some brilliance in the campaign.

Are we sure this isn't a pro-meth campaign? https://t.co/m0igCAogyw

— Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) November 18, 2019

South Dakota taxpayers paid $450k for a new anti-meth PSA campaign. And here's what the state came up with https://t.co/1MATJPBULv pic.twitter.com/bsZKkXCPNL

— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) November 18, 2019

in fairness, i'm now extremely aware of south dakota's meth problem https://t.co/6p2tCL6wc9

— Byrd Pinkerton (@byrdala) November 18, 2019