Reader Paul Murphy sends along this ad from the Australian division of Giant Bicycles. The spot, by the Melbourne-based firm Leo Burnett, started airing last summer as part of Giant’s “Real Riders” campaign. Imagine if images of grocery bags slung over handlebars could somehow saturate the airwaves as much as sleek new luxury sedans gliding through traffic-free downtown streets.
Has anyone seen an ad with so many scenes of city cycling air in the U.S.?
(Warning: This ad isn’t completely safe for work.)
It’s no surprise revelation that sex sells; but this somewhat steamy advertisement (well, steamy by American standards) for Norwegian bus company Nettbuss isn’t really about sex, it’s about freedom and the unexpected pleasure of riding the bus. Sure, the one steamy scene does capture viewer attention, but I identify more with the kid running through the fields being chased by bullies than the Don Juan who’s accidental headbutt leads to a fun afternoon in the kitchen. I’m just way too coordinated for that.
Freedom through riding transit. It’s a concept embraced by Livable Streets advocates, but rarely seen on television. Ok, sometime you’ll see an ad like this for bike riding, but never for bus riding.
The ad also celebrates that a benefit to riding transit is interacting with other people. You never know if the person next to you on the bus is the kind of person who would help a young kid escape bullies, would take the train to their wedding or would lock a bunch of kids in the hallway for the worst field trip in history.
But what really makes this ad stands out is that its everything that American transit advertisements are not. Bold. Fun. Dare I say it, adventurous. There’s a lot that American transit carriers can learn from Europe, and one of those things is how to market transit service as something more than welfare or a cheap way to get to the ball game.
A couple of car-related ads in heavy NFL rotation caught my attention mostly for their emphasis, intended or not, on car-free transportation.
Exhibit A is from Geico, which as usual doesn’t use cars in its ads for car insurance. Instead, in this spot the company’s ubiquitous cartoon spokeslizard is depicted walking the center line of the Brooklyn Bridge bike-ped path, extolling the value of Geico auto, RV and motorcycle insurance. Then comes the caveat — “You want to find a place to park all these things? Fuhgeddaboudit! This is New York.” — before the lizard is almost squashed by a cyclist who yells at him for being in the way.
Whether you’re from the city or not, you’re in on the joke: New York is a place where space is tight and people are on the move. But also: You don’t need a car to live here, and in fact, you’re probably better off without the hassle.
One of the many reasons that America has such a deep and lasting addiction to its car culture is the advertising dollars that paint such an attractive picture of car ownership. The ads are everywhere and appear in many different forms. But, you know this.
I was actually surprised when greeted by three ads for Buy Here Pay Here car dealerships on the Los Angeles Times webpage when running a search for the series that demolished any moral ground the industry stands on. I know the ads were placed by Google Ads and there’s nobody at the Times that took a check from a dealership to place the ads, but there is a way you can block ads by certain advertisers. I guess its one thing to announce to the world that a vampire industry is flourishing under our noses. It’s another thing to block their advertisements.
But here’s the thing, just like State Farm’s Humiliated Cyclist ad campaign, the meaning of the advertisement is open to interpretation. I see the ads as cleverly disguised apologies for the damage wrought by America’s Car Culture obsession aided by General Motors’ advertising and lobbying activities.
Image via the Daily Bruin via Bike Portland
A UCLA undergraduate who lives with her parents because of family debt partially caused by decades of car payments, stumbles wearily out of the house. Her Dad insists that he drive her to her first class in the morning, even though they live in Westwood. So the two walk to the car parked on the sidewalk in front of her house and they head off to class. She keeps the window rolled up to avoid the air pollution created during the morning rush hour on Westwood Boulevard. Just as she thinks, “Reality Sucks, I never should have given up the bike I road in high school for this crap,” (stopped pedaling to start driving…) a cyclist pulls up. She gives him her best come hither smile, but the poor cyclist is tired of being sexually harassed because he’s constantly exercising so he pretends not to see her. Besides, he’s running a little early today because he needs to finish the Model Street Manual encouraging healthier streets published by the Luskin Center for Innovation before he can read the most recent update on UCLA’s Be a Green Commuter Blog. Read more…
If you’ve been watching the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, which resumes tonight, you’ve probably seen this Subaru spot, called “Baby Driver.” In it, a distressed father leans into the passenger side window, imploring his preschool-age daughter to be careful on the road — stay off the freeways, put the phone away — to the point that she interrupts with a sweetly impatient “Daddy, o-kay.” When he gives up the keys, we see the child as a present-day teenager. As she backs out of the driveway, to the obligatory strains of an acoustic guitar, the word “love” pops up on the screen. It dissolves into the Subaru logo as dad’s voice intones: “We knew this day was coming. That’s why we bought a Subaru.”
From his body language and tone of voice, the way he watches helplessly as she drives away, you’d think his daughter was shipping out for Afghanistan. What the voice-over might as well have said was, “No one wants their kids to drive. We know it’s incredibly dangerous. So we bought a Subaru in hopes that our child won’t die.”
If you can get past the myth of driving as an unavoidable rite of passage, you have to hand it to Subaru on this one. Based on the YouTube comments, it’s pulling a lot of heartstrings. And the emphasis, at least, is on safety (albeit for those inside the Subaru). Contrast that with the current campaign from fellow March Madness sponsor Dodge, featuring commercials like the one after the jump. Given its celebration of sociopathic behavior — watch as the Charger plows heedlessly through urban crosswalks at “movie car chase” speeds — we wonder if the narration by Michael C. Hall, TV’s favorite serial killer, is more than coincidence.
Via the website Girl Bike Love comes one of the more depressing automobile advertisements we’ve seen recently. Used car resale dealership Tyme Auto Group, proudly serving Northern Ohio and Michigan, proudly offers a discount to any jogger or cyclist who promises to stay off the road the author is driving on (sic).
It’s hardly uncommon for an advertiser to try and attract their target audience by mocking another one. For example, every football fan has been subjected to beer commercials with attractive women mocking awkward men for not recognizing the brilliance of Miller Light this past season, but there’s always a chance this one could backfire. After all, all one has to do to be considered a “cyclist or jogger” is own a bicycle or pair of shoes and self-identify. And who doesn’t like a 15% discount? Even if it is just for a 2000 Chrysler Concorde?
Car sales are up, auto shows are packing them in, and the GM IPO was oversubscribed, but there may be no surer indicator of the auto industry’s recovery than the renewed avalanche of car ads rumbling across every medium. And there’s no better way to get a glimpse of what a born-again car culture might look like than to stay on the couch for a spell, un-mute the TV, and watch—that’s right, on purpose—a sample of 2010’s ads selling us our car-centric way of life. Here are some of the year’s most egregious attempts to get us into the dealership by conflating car ownership with American values.
Dodge Charger: “Man’s Last Stand”
Chrysler stokes the gender wars with this ad suggesting that the American male may seem to have been tamed by the boss and neutered by the wife, but all that the rebel within needs to bust out is a $38K fully loaded Dodge Charger. The road is his last refuge, the one place where he can still be a manly man. He’ll “eat fruit” at home, but he won’t be a fruit in control of the kind of growling, ferocious muscle car that had its heyday back when men last really had it good. (For a rejoinder, click here.)
Toyota Sienna: “Mommy Like”
How does a mom, stressed from commuting to work and shuttling the kids to soccer practice day in and day out, get away from it all? Why, of course, by spending more time in her vehicle! In this commercial for the Sienna minivan, Mommy steals some quality time alone—in the backseat where the kids usually get to have all the fun. The message? Auto dependence’s problems are solved not by driving less but by buying more, including a new car chock-a-block with luxury options to distract us from the aggravation and tedium of the average 18 ½ hours Americans sit in a car each week.
Not that I'm going to complain about NBC's coverage of bicycling issues, in addition to three stories about Critical Mass they're also the only station to have covered Sharrows; but couldn't we have given the car advertisements a rest for one story?
Lexus has suspended sales of its GX 460
after Consumer Reports issued a "don't buy" warning earlier this week.
Apparently the luxury SUV's electronic "stability control" system can
fail to correct drivers taking turns too quickly, resulting in a
rollover risk. Times car blog Wheels reports:
Mr.
Champion [Consumer Reports auto testing director] said that the problem
came to light at the magazine's test track in East Haddam, Conn., while
looking for "any nasty habits that might catch a driver out." He
explained, "We want a car to be benign."
Speaking
of nasty habits, the problem might well have come to light during this
commercial shoot. Far from presenting the GX 460 as benign, Lexus hawks
it as the nimble vehicle every upwardly-mobile mom needs to whip
through city streets teeming with urban dangers (and cleared of urban
traffic, natch). Strap in, precious, we're goin' to lacrosse practice!
So
we have a carmaker promoting its product as a street-legal racing
machine, and a consumer watchdog group telling the public it should not
be driven as advertised -- or better yet, not driven at all.
We've tapped this vein before, but until "Closed Course/Professional Driver/Do Not Attempt" marketing goes the way of the "healthy" cigarette ad,
supposed fail-safe features -- mostly designed to protect those inside
the car -- will continue to be so much window dressing. Like those
pedestrians in Batmom's peripheral vision.
