Keep America Beautiful

Keep America Beautiful's famous 1971 Ad Campaign, featuring Iron Eyes Cody, the "Crying Indian"

Keep America Beautiful is an environmental organization founded in 1953. It is the largest community improvement organization in the United States, with approximately 580 affiliate organizations (similar to local chapters) and more than 17,000 participating communities in their signature annual event - the Great American Cleanup.

Keep America Beautiful focuses on three key issues: litter prevention, the waste hierarchy: waste reduction, reuse, recycling and community beautification (tree planting, community gardens). This is accomplished through a combination of community organizing, public education and the fostering of public/private partnerships.

History

Keep America Beautiful was founded in 1953 by consortium of American businesses, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and concerned individuals^{[citation needed]} in reaction to the growing problem of highway litter that followed the construction of the Interstate Highway System, and an increasingly mobile and convenience-oriented American consumer. The goal of the organization was to reduce litter through public education and advertising.

Keep America Beautiful had many early local ad campaigns. One of these early local ad campaigns in Pennsylvania, some attribute to having coined the term "litterbug", as opposed to the New York Transit Authority ^[1]. A popular television campaign theme in 1963 was replay of the clip "Every Litter Bit Hurts". Another appeared in 1964 featuring character replay of the clip Susan Spotless. In 1970 KAB began a free brochure. More than 100,000 copies were requested within 4 months.

Keep America Beautiful joined with the Ad Council in 1961 to create campaigns. They wanted to dramatize that every individual must help protect against the terrible effects litter has on the environment.^[2]

On Earth Day 1971, a new campaign was launched with the theme "People Start Pollution. People can stop it." It was a Public Service Announcement featuring the now iconic "Crying Indian" played by Iron Eyes Cody.^[3]

In 1975 Keep America Beautiful introduced its "Clean Community System" which encouraged local communities to prevent litter through education efforts, advertising, local research, mapping of litter "hotspots", and clean up activities. During the height of the campaign KAB received over 2000 letters a month from people wanting to join their local programs.^[4] The "Clean Community System" evolved into KAB's current network of roughly 580 local "Keep My Town Beautiful" organizations nationwide. By the end of the campaign locals had succeeded to reduce litter by 88%.^[5]

In 1999 Keep America Beautiful introduced the "Great American Cleanup" campaign, where volunteers are organized to clean up litter and illegal dumpsites in their communities, remove graffiti, and beautify by planting trees, flowers and other greenery. In 2007, the event drew 2.8 million volunteers nationwide.^{[citation needed]}

Accomplishments

Keep America Beautiful is best known for the "Crying Indian" public service advertisement (PSA) which launched on Earth Day in 1971. This advertising campaign has been widely credited, including in Frank Lowenstein's "Voices of Protest" with inspiring America's fledgling environmental movement.

KAB was the first organization to bring littering to national attention and made "litterbug” a household word.

The Great American Cleanup, KAB's annual signature event, organized 3 million volunteers through 30,000 events in 17,000 communities in 2008. The effort removed 86 million pounds of litter from landscapes and waterways, recycled 10 million pounds of metals, 37 million pounds of newsprint, 1.4 million tires, and 5.3 million pounds of electronics.^[6]

Criticisms

Walter Lamb, head of the organization cigarettelitter.org, accused KAB in 2001 of acting in the interests of large corporate sponsors such as cigarette company Philip Morris, to ignore and undermine cigarette butt litter. ^[7]. In recent years, Lamb has been encouraged by KAB's Cigarette Litter Prevention Program, telling the Riverside (CA) Free Press: "We were very happy with the progress that Keep America Beautiful has made in addressing this important issue, but the tobacco companies need to do much more." His organization's website lauds recent efforts, saying: "ABC News and Keep America Beautiful are to be commended for helping to raise awareness about litter, including the #1 form of litter, cigarette butts.^[8]"

Heather Rogers, creator of the documentary film Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage and book of the same name, classifies Keep America Beautiful as one of the first greenwashing corporate fronts, created in response to Vermont's 1953 attempt to outlaw disposable containers. The focus on litter, and indeed construction of the modern concept of litter, is seen as an attempt to divert responsibility from industries that rely on disposable and planned obsolescence products to the consumer that improperly disposes of them.^[9]

Elizabeth Royte author of Garbage Land, also describes Keep America Beautiful as a "masterful example of corporate greenwash", noting that in contrast to its antilitter campaigns, it ignores the potential of recycling legislation and resists changes to packaging.^[10]

See also

• Clean Up Australia
• Clean Up the World
• Container deposit legislation
• Don't Mess With Texas
• Iron Eyes Cody
• Keep Britain Tidy
• Recycling in the United States
• Roads Beautifying Association (in the UK)
• TIDY Northern Ireland

References

External links

• Keep America Beautiful
• The Adventures of KAB Man
• Video of "Crying Indian" PSA