GM Pulls Offensive Ad Mocking College-Aged Cyclists
- by Care2 Causes Editors
- October 20, 2011
- 10:00 pm
Written by Brian Stewart, Campus Progress
General Motors has pulled an ad targeted at college students that implied riding a bike was uncool and awkward.
The ad, which ran in college publications, shows a woman riding in the passenger seat of a car and seemingly laughing at a college-aged male biker, who is portrayed as embarrassed and tries to hide his face.
“Reality sucks,” the ad reads. “Luckily the GM college discount doesn’t. … Stop pedaling…start driving.”
The backlash against the ad was widespread, with the League of American Bicyclists providing someawesome sarcastic commentary on what they called “one of the more remarkably ill-conceived car ad campaigns of all time.” They write:
If you are a student looking to add tens of thousands of dollars of long term debt, care little about the environment, and want to lump two tons of steel around campus while paying through the nose for insurance, gas, and parking… General Motors has got a perfect deal for you. Bonus: it’ll make you fat and unhealthy! All you have to do is give up that dorky bicycle that’s easy to use, practically free, gets you some exercise and is actually fun to ride.
An GM spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times that the ad—which was turned into a poster and plastered around campuses—was intended to be “a bit cheeky and humorous and not meant to offend anybody.” The company also apologized extensively on Twitter, directly responding to many who had complained about the mockery of bikers.
Recent data show that young Americans are already driving less than they were in 2001.
This post was originally published by Campus Progress.
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Read more: bicycles, bicyclists, bikes, campus progress, college students, general motors, gm, student debt
Photo from: BikePortland
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And this is the same GM which bought into Opel in Germany and then did their very best to bankrupt the firm and throw everybody out of work in 2008 . . . while VW and all the others were working out how to manage living on less profits, cash for clunkers and not letting anybody go until the market revived.
It's easy to assume the T-for-toxic-Party and the GOP is after Obama, at whatever price, and if it costs "99%", so be it - but the further away one stands the bigger the picture one can see, and from here it appears that they will not be satisfied until they control the entire world through fear and poverty.
We had this before, remember?
60 years ago the US government helped to restore democracy.
In spite of Bush and other Krupp buddies. (Google "Prescott Bush" if you don't know.)
Those were the days......
I love even more the ad that the League of American Bicyclists has put together in answer. Imagine the images that would go with it!
I love bikes, and the way people look while riding a bike. They look a lot better than sitting in a car.
I wonder whose bright idea the ad was in the first place!
And since when did college kids care what middle aged women think?