State’s ‘Breaking Bad Habits’ beautification push includes iconic Breaking Bad character

Walter White is back from the dead and he’s got no tolerance for litterbugs.

The Breaking Bad character is at the center of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s new beautification campaign, rolled out Thursday in Santa Fe.

Lujan Grisham’s news conference at the Jean Cocteau Cinema included the premier of two new television ads featuring the mild-mannered chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin, played by Bryan Cranston.

The ads, directed by Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan, depict an exasperated White picking up trash under a New Mexico desert sun and angrily tossing it into a 55-gallon drum.

“Keep litter out of my territory,” the fictional White growls into the camera at the end of each ad, before crushing a drink cup from Los Pollos Hermanos, the fictional eatery in the series and its spin-off, Better Call Saul .

Lujan Grisham is calling the new campaign “Breaking Bad Habits.” It also includes billboards across the state, advertising on city buses in Albuquerque, social media ads and T-shirts depicting a “Heisenberg” police sketch and the words “keep litter out of my territory.”

Also part of the effort is a new website where people can report illegal dumping, sign up for a volunteer cleanup event and learn more about the promotion. Lujan Grisham plans to ask state lawmakers to approve anti-litter and state beautification initiatives in the 2025 legislative session.

During the 2024 session, the New Mexico Tourism Department received a $2 million special appropriation to promote statewide beautification and litter reduction.

“New Mexico is the most beautiful state in the nation, but I’m saddened and disappointed by the amount of litter I see carelessly tossed along roadways, (and in) public parks and other places,” she said. “It’s time for all of us to commit to breaking bad habits and do our part to eliminate litter and preserve our great state’s spectacular beauty. I’m grateful to Bryan and Vince, who both love New Mexico.”

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