Don't Mess with Texas Wins America's Favorite Slogan

www.VoteDMWT.com and select Don't Mess with Texas as their favorite slogan.

Viral e-mails circulated to thousands of people rallying friends, families and colleagues to vote online. Also, several companies were recruited to encourage their employees to vote. The national contest was part of the third annual Advertising Week Walk of Fame.

Advertising Week is North America's largest annual gathering of advertising and media industry decision makers. "Don't Mess with Texas" victory banners lined New York's Madison Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, and the slogan will receive permanent recognition in the Advertising Icon Museum in Kansas City, which opens spring 2008. Last year's winner was General Electric's slogan, "imagination at work.

" TxDOT launched the "Don't Mess with Texas" campaign in 1986 to curb roadside litter pickup costs. The now-famous slogan was created by Austin-based GSD M advertising agency, which helped establish Don't Mess with Texas as the nation's most successful litter prevention campaign in the country. GSD M handled the TxDOT business until relinquishing the account in 1998.

has since worked with TxDOT to generate further success, including the most recently measured drop in roadside litter - 33 percent since 2001. This year, "Don't Mess with Texas" kicked off its 20th anniversary with new TV advertisements featuring some of the biggest celebrities from Texas including Matthew McConaughey, Owen Wilson, Lee Ann Womack, Lance Armstrong and Jennifer Love Hewitt.