By: jackie.sauter

Being friendly to the environment can be fun — who knew? Or at least Baltimore’s Planit advertising agency is putting a funny spin on anti-litterbug PSAs for the city.

Drawing from the same dry, awkward humor found in episodes of NBC’s “The Office,” the agency has produced ads (view online here) reminding people that their coffee cups and cigarette butts add up for the people charged with cleaning up after them.

(But wait — if these folks didn’t have as much litter to clean, would the city lay them off? Are we saving jobs by being slobs? Just a thought.)

The agency also has three 15-second animated PSAs viewable online at the same site.

In my opinion, the humor in these ads is vintage Planit — youthful, contemporary and worth a chuckle. For more examples of their style, check out my article on the agency’s nontraditional ad campaign for the traditionally stuffy steeplechase races at Shawan Downs.

But for all the chuckles, do you think the ad will be effective? Will the city get back what it invested in the campaign?

And maybe before I get ahead of myself, do you think the ad is funny?

LIZ FARMER, Business Writer

Don’t Make Excuses PSA: Paper Cups from Planit on Vimeo.