Earlier than LADOT’s now-viral poop-emoji marketing campaign began shaming riders who had dangerous behaviors on the bus, one other LA transit company had already gone totally off the rails — with a large orange menace named Impolite Dude.
Sure, actually. Again in 2017, LA Metro rolled out its “Metro Manners” marketing campaign, a trio of anime-style PSAs starring a purple-haired superhero referred to as Tremendous Form, who bursts into music to battle a rule-breaking monster terrorizing bus riders.
His crimes weren’t legal, simply deeply annoying: seat hogging, aisle blocking, consuming on board, hauling junk all over the place and customarily performing like public transit is his front room.
The movies, directed by YouTube filmmaker Mike Diva and that includes on-line star Anna Akana, leaned laborious into vivid colours, J-pop vibes and cartoon chaos.
In a single scene, Tremendous Form actually vaporizes Impolite Dude’s pineapple stash with laser eyes whereas well mannered commuters applaud.
The quirky strategy gained consideration, and confusion.
Some riders cherished it, calling it humorous, nostalgic or “so cringe it’s good.” Others stated it fully missed the mark, saying that the individuals blasting music, littering or inflicting issues aren’t precisely the identical individuals watching etiquette cartoons on-line.
A recurring grievance: the adverts appeared designed for individuals who already had manners. And lots of stated what really deters dangerous conduct isn’t PSAs, it’s enforcement.
Regardless of the combined reception, Impolite Dude didn’t fade quietly into the transit archives.
Metro turned the orange troublemaker right into a mini model. Hats, shirts, backpacks, notebooks, water bottles and even children’ gear that includes the character are nonetheless offered by means of the company’s on-line store. At one level, Metro even raffled off themed TAP playing cards.
Metro didn’t reply to questions on how a lot the marketing campaign price or whether or not or not the shaming movies labored.
As The Put up lately reported, LADOT rolled out a collection of adverts that includes smiling poop emojis to disgrace pooping on the bus, in addition to consuming, listening to loud music and never paying bus honest.
The spots lean much less anime fantasy and extra sketch artwork, however the underlying technique is acquainted: shock individuals into being attentive to on a regular basis civic conduct.
Taken collectively, the Impolite Dude saga and the poop marketing campaign recommend one thing distinctly Los Angeles: when officers can’t simply repair quality-of-life issues, they attempt to model them.
Ask riders what they really need, and most gained’t say “extra cartoons.” They’ll say cleaner automobiles, safer streets and visual enforcement.
If nothing else, LA’s transit paperwork has established a sample: When conduct will get messy, the messaging will get weirder.
