'If you ask out a marginally good-looking girl, you're drunk, don't drive!': Sexist drink awareness campaign sparks outrage in Tennessee

  • Tennessee's Highway Safety Office is 'aiming at young male drivers'
  • It features drunken scenarios that mean you are too drunk to drive
  • They describe asking out an average woman and girls seeming 'hotter'
  • Campaign sparked outrage on Twitter and among female ad specialists
  • The state has since pulled the $78,000 campaign and issued an apology

By Mia De Graaf For Dailymail.com

Published: 13:53 EST, 15 July 2015 | Updated: 15:55 EST, 15 July 2015

A sexist drink awareness campaign has sparked outrage in Tennessee.

The posters, coasters, and table cloths in bars across the state feature a number of different scenarios to highlight the message that 'if your judgment is impaired, so is your driving.'

One reads, 'After a few drinks the girls look hotter and the music sounds better. Just remember: If your judgement is impaired, so is your driving.'

Outrage: This is one of the sexist posters issued by the state of Tennessee to target young male drivers

Outrage: This is one of the sexist posters issued by the state of Tennessee to target young male drivers

Sexist: The coasters, posters and table cloths features scenarios that supposedly show you are over the limit

Sexist: The coasters, posters and table cloths features scenarios that supposedly show you are over the limit

Another says, 'Buy a drink for a marginally good-looking girl, only to find out she's chatty, clingy, and your boss's daughter.'

And a third states, 'Ask a married woman for her phone number in front of her large, muscle-bound, skull-tattooed husband.'

Beneath each, it says: 'Paid for by the TN Governor's Highway Safety Office.'

Pictures of the federally-funded Booze It and Lose It campaign, which cost $77,096 have flooded Twitter, with users demanding an explanation.

And bar managers also came out against the coasters. Frank Hall, manager of Gold Rush in Nashville, told WKRN: 'What is a young lady coming in going to think about that? They never saw them. I wouldn’t let them out.'

Laura Creekmore, an advertising specialist based in Nashville told DailyMail.com: 'The whole thing was completely inappropriate.

'I take real exception to the idea that the only way to reach young men is by using a sexist message, that is demeaning to both men and women.

'And the other problem is that when you are using a sexist message in a campaign, even if you're trying to be snarky, that helps create the idea that it's appropriate to be sexist in society. 

'It's a campaign from the Governor's Highway Office for goodness' sake. That validation just makes sexism seem ok.

She added: 'It's frustrating that there was nobody throughout the creative process who looked at one of those messages and said "hey that's not right".'

Backtracking: The $78,000 federally-funded campaign will now be pulled from all bars across the country

Backtracking: The $78,000 federally-funded campaign will now be pulled from all bars across the country

The Governor's Highway Safety Office initially defended the campaign's 'attention-grabbing' slogans
The Governor's Highway Safety Office initially defended the campaign's 'attention-grabbing' slogans

The Governor's Highway Safety Office initially defended the campaign's 'attention-grabbing' slogans

Initially, the Highway Safety Director Kendell Poole defended the campaign in a statement to the Tennessean, saying it was deliberately phrased to target young men using 'well-known adages, like dating the boss's daughter' that 'were used to grab their attention within the bar environment.'

However, on Wednesday afternoon, Poole told DailyMail.com the campaign had been pulled and issued an apology.

He said in a statement: 'The Governor’s Highway Safety Office would like to apologize for any offense caused by the 100 Days of Summer Heat Booze It and Lose It Campaign. 

'Because one of the goals of many Booze It and Lose It campaigns is to reach our high risk driving population, the marketing is often edgy and designed to grab the attention of the young male demographic. It was never the intent of the GHSO to be insensitive or insulting to women.'

The cost of removing the campaign from bars across the state will be met by the advertising firm contracted by the GHSO.  

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