May 23, 2013
  • Throwback Thursday: Keep New York Wet, Save Water ... we mean Wadda

    Nothing could go right for New York in the early 1980s. If the crime, the street trash and the graffiti wasn't enough, then there was the water shortage. With the upstate reservoirs running low, the Koch administration took to the airwaves with the memorable campaign, "Keep New York Wet, Save Water."

    From a New York Times' article of the era: "In December 1980, Mayor Koch named every child in the city a deputy mayor in charge of saving water. Flanked by 44 of his deputy mayors in one television commercial, Mr. Koch offered tips on saving water and concluded, in chorus with the children, "Keep New York wet." In fact, on Dec. 31, 1982, the Times made the slogan one of its "quotations" of the day.

    The spot shown above dates from this time, and indeed features city kids with incredibly thick Noo Yawk accents reminding you to conserve. It's priceless stuff from another New York.

    -- Rolando Pujol

    Video via trainluvr on YouTube

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