'We fought to move up a little higher': Privately funded billboard urges young men to pull up their pants

Brett T. | 6:20 PM on July 11, 2015

New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority spent a reported $76,000 on its ad campaign to discourage manspreading on the train before the city began cracking down for real and making arrests. Can you believe these placards had virtually no effect on behavior?

MTA set to unveil new ad campaign to combat #manspreading on NY subways. http://t.co/GWCj3rOT7k pic.twitter.com/qukZ954Ciz

— Truth in Advertising (@TruthinAd) December 22, 2014

Now, a billboard in Memphis urging men to pull up their pants is starting to gain attention nationwide, and best of all, it’s not a government initiative but a private effort by an area insurance agent, who put up the $6,000 out of his own pocket.

Memphis Billboard Attracting Attention:
Show Your Mind, Not Your Behind. http://t.co/1OTfxSmUho #tcot pic.twitter.com/At5iBvhb7g

— Linda Suhler, PhD (@LindaSuhler) July 11, 2015

@LindaSuhler I'm looking up Fred L. Davis Insurance Agency & giving him my business. What a great message Please RT this make it famous!

— Joe Lewis (@BigMouthJoe) July 11, 2015

Davis told News Channel 3 in Memphis, “If you want to be upwardly mobile, you can’t present that image to people who are qualified to make a decision about you.” He also spoke about his own experience in the Civil Rights Movement: “We didn’t fight for thuggish mentality, we fought to create for the generations who came behind us to move up a little higher.”