South Dakota Public Safety Department Pulls ‘Don’t Jerk and Drive’ Campaign

Those in marking and public relations try some interesting things to grab people's attention, including using a little innuendo to get people talking. The South Dakota Department of Public Safety has such a campaign on their hands, and they may have taken things a little too far.

Their "Don't Jerk and Drive" campaign was supposed to raise awareness about the dangers of jerking the steering wheel and over-correcting on icy roads this winter. The campaign creators admittedly used innuendo to get their message across, except the double entendre didn't sit well with some South Dakota residents, including members of the state government.

Lee Axdahl, director of the office of Highway Safety, told the Argus Leader "The message is that we'd prefer drivers keep their cars out of the ditch and their minds out of the gutter." While the playful language had a good intent, Axdahl's boss ultimately decided to pull the campaign. His said "This is an important safety message and I don't want this innuendo to distract from our goal to save lives on the road."

The campaign also urged people to use #DontJerkAndDrive on social media, and you can probably imagine some of the feedback. Below are some of the images created for the campaign.

[Argus Leader]