 The
Litterbug is a registered mark of the Pennsylvania Resources Council.
The caricature of the Litterbug PRC first introduced in 1952 was selected
from one of several sketches now hanging in the office of PRC's current
executive director Larry Myers. It had a pirate type patch over one
eye, a huge head, a yellow and black striped body, a long insect-like
nose, wings and smoked a cigarette. A model of this first Litterbug
hangs in the conference room of PRC's Ridley Creek State Park Office.
PRC first allowed the National Council of State Garden Clubs to use
the Litterbug in its anti-litter campaign of the mid-fifties in conjunction
with the "Don't Be A Litterbug" slogan, which PRC used continuously
for the next fifty years in many anti-litter campaigns. A few years
later PRC gave permission to Keep America Beautiful, a national trade
association of bottlers that organized to fight litter and container
deposit legislation through its Clean Cities Program and by actively
promoting recycling. KAB used the bug for more than ten years and
put the Don't Be A Litterbug slogan to music.
Although PRC's records indicate PRC has used the "Don't Be
A Litterbug" slogan since 1952, Amelia Opdyke Jones claims
to have introduced the word "litterbug" to usage. An illustrator
for the Subway Sun, Jones claims she introduced the word "litterbug"
in a poster she created for the Subway Sun (Vol.14, No.1) in 1947
which said, "nobody loves a litterbug." She reportedly
derived the word litterbug from the popular dance of the time, the
jitterbug.
In 1994 PRC hired Wally Neibert to redraw the Litterbug. He came
up with a new design, which resembled the old Litterbug, but looked
slightly more 90's. In 1997 when the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection asked PRC's admission to use the Litterbug
in its forthcoming statewide anti-litter campaign, PRC decided it
was time the Litterbug had a total facelift so it could move into
the new millenium with a more politically correct appearance. Tom
Evans, a free-lance artist from West Chester, Pennsylvania was hired
to create the new Litterbug, which was introduced at a press conference
in Harrisburg on March 10, 1997 by DEP, Secretary James M. Seif
and PRC's former executive director Ruth H. Becker. Gone were the
eye patch, the striped body and the cigarette. The new bug had a
fuzzy body, looked less evil and more mischievous. A mascot was
created by PRC and the Litterbug traveled to schools, community
events and meetings preaching litter and being warned "Don't
Be A Litterbug." In 1999 PennDOT (the Pennsylvania Department
of Transportation) received permission from PRC to use the Litterbug
in its anti-litter program and had six more Litterbug mascots designed
for loan through its Regional Offices.
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