Cars and bikes need to share the road. It’s the law, and it matters for our health and well-being. And we need both. Sorry, until we figure out something better (sun-powered hover-cars!), we need four wheels and a chassis to plow through the drifts on those frigid dark January nights. So it saddens us when bikers talk like cars are frivolous, and when car-makers (or city planners) act like bikes are impractical alternatives foisted upon the mainstream by granola-chomping hippies. Or worse, when they suggest that bikes are uncool, which was at the heart of a recent tone-deaf General Motors campaign aimed at college students. The ad (above) ran in several college newspapers and was made into a poster.
To be honest, we don’t know what college kids think is cool. We’re pretty sure it isn’t GM’s standby Buick LeSabre. Or the 2011 GMC Sierra K15 AWD, which gets an epic 9 miles per gallon on E85 fuel. And, based on the swift and strong reaction against the ad, we’re also pretty sure the kids don’t want anyone slamming their bikes. To their credit, the marketers at GM got the message and the campaign was killed.
Kudos to the ad folks at Giant Bicycles for their clever response.
We don’t know if it influenced the decision to terminate the campaign, but we were amused. And thanks to the Goat, the blog at Backcountry.com, for drawing our attention to this little kerfuffle.
