McGruff, the anti-crime dog, is now also anti-DOGE
Plus: Pure Michigan’s new campaign to lure tourists is a fragrance line
McGruff, the anti-crime dog, is now also anti-DOGE
McGruff, the trench coat-wearing cartoon dog whose former address 1980s and ‘90s kids know by heart thanks to his crime prevention PSAs, has set his sights on a new target: the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
McGruff is the mascot of the nonprofit National Crime Prevention Council, or NCPC, and his slogan “Take a Bite Out of Crime” has been updated for recent events. Since government cuts have starved the NCPC of nearly $2 million and put a stop to production of a public service announcement and research into how kids think on social media, the group has started fundraising in earnest, with efforts including merch with the slogan “Take a Bite Out of DOGE.”
McGruff’s online shop now sells two tees with the slogan alongside other tees, totes, and hats with new and vintage logos and the classic slogan. Made in the U.S. and union decorated, the $34.95 anti-DOGE shirts look like they’re bootleg but they’re not.
“These shirts are a clever and fun way to raise funds and raise awareness,” NCPC communications director Tatiana Peralta tells me in an email. “Every purchase helps fund initiatives that empower communities and educate youth about crime prevention.”
A new McGruff podcast, “True Crime Prevention,” was also launched to raise money to fill in the group’s funding gap, and Peralta says the nonprofit has other things planned as well.
McGruff was originally created in 1978 for the Ad Council, and in crime prevention public service announcements and comic books, he’s spoken about issues including child abduction, drugs, gun safety, and cyberbullying. Modern McGruff ads no longer feature a jingle for a Chicago address — the NCPC is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and there’s a web address instead — but there are 4,000 “active McGruffs,” according to NCPC, as in, there are 4,000 mascot-style costumes out in the world that can be used for in-person visits.
In 2022, McGruff and his nephew Scruff first appeared in a campaign launched against buying counterfeits, including prescription pills laced with fentanyl. Yes, Scruff McGruff was on the frontlines of fighting the fentanyl crisis, but now his work is in jeopardy.
“The sudden and erratic nature of DOGE's actions meant we had to stop work immediately on producing a new public service announcement,” Peralta says. “McGruff and NCPC remain committed to educating the public and will continue to do so. Our current ads are still airing and in fact are about to top five billion impressions. Hopefully, the government will realize this error in judgement.”
DOGE cuts have saved less than 5% of what the agency claimed to have saved, a new POLITCO review of public data and federal spending records found, and even then, those cuts have proven costly. DOGE cuts have resulted directly in more than 50,000 people losing their jobs and could cost an estimated $10 billion in lost U.S.-based economic activity, according to the government accountability group CREW. What’s more, many of the cuts were made to agencies tasked with protecting citizens and taxpayers from abuse, fraud, and waste, like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, CREW found.
McGruff is far from alone in feeling the impact of President Donald Trump’s administration’s cuts. But considering the cartoon’s focus on crime fighting and combatting fentanyl — two issues Trump claims to care about — the cuts seem especially ironic, though not entirely surprising considering DOGE’s track record.
Against the backdrop of the first felon president federalizing local law enforcement in D.C. months after pardoning Jan. 6 rioters, McGruff’s mission and legacy of crime prevention PSAs feels like light on a cloudy day. Taking a bite out of crime used to mean something in this country.
By tapping into outrage over DOGE, the National Crime Prevention Council is connecting McGruff’s plight to wider discontentment. A majority of Americans already don’t think DOGE is doing a good job, and now a beloved crime fighting canine has openly turned against it too.
Take a bite out of DOGE? If it’s McGruff, he can take two.
Previously in Yello:
Pure Michigan’s new campaign to lure tourists is a fragrance line
