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Cyclists in car advertisements

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UK and Europe
Published
5 April 2005
Last activity
11 April 2005
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  1. Hi folks,

    Hopefully someone out there will be able to help me. I am trying to do
    some research on car advertising but is it amazing how ephemeral TV car
    advertising is. (At times I get the impression that most TV advertising
    is about selling the general idea of 'the car' than any particular
    model). Anyhow, I am trying to get further information on the way
    cyclists have been portrayed in TV car advertisements.

    I have traced references to the Nissan Primera Advert. (This was the
    one where 'Mr Smith' sets out from home, drives around passing cyclists
    with a dismissive glance in his rear view mirror, arrives back home to
    be greeted by his wife with it turning out that she is also his
    secretary and he works from home. However, as the Primera is a 'drivers
    car' he just has to 'drive to work' every day. How sad...).

    Does anyone recall the 'Don't ride here Chas' advert for Range Rover
    where a female driver goes past a group of alien-looking cyclists with,
    I think, 'Chas Roberts' on their silver shorts and then goes 'off road'
    with the quip 'Don't ride here Chas'.

    Also there was a recent TV ad where a cyclist is drenched by a large
    HGV and a car pulls up alongside with the tag line being 'Some day the
    rest of the world will catch up'. I think this was for an Audi or Saab
    or something like that.

    Also there was an ad a few years ago where a female driver is stuck in
    traffic in, I think, a Metro when a cyclist goes past hunched over with
    elbows out, 'silly helmet on' and so on and the driver rolls her eyes
    back as if to say 'Being stuck in traffic is better than looking like
    that.

    Any one else remember there or any others or where I might get more
    information on them?

    Regards,

    Howard.

  2. Quoted message said:

    Any one else remember there or any others

    Don't remember any of those. A group of roadies is seen "skakin' that
    ass" in the Megane advert. Not actually dismissive of cyclists, if you
    can imagine such a thing!

    Pete.
    --
    Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
    Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
    Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
    net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/


  3. Quoted message said:

    Any one else remember there or any others or where I might get more
    information on them?

    Yeah; the really stupid one with IIRC a Rover 200 in New York, where
    he outruns some streetwise oiks on BMX bikes and drives the bloody
    thing into a loft flat or whatever they call those places they choose
    to live.
    (Englishman in NY was the music natch)

  4. Quoted message said:

    Does anyone recall the 'Don't ride here Chas' advert for Range Rover
    where a female driver goes past a group of alien-looking cyclists
    with, I think, 'Chas Roberts' on their silver shorts and then goes
    'off road' with the quip 'Don't ride here Chas'.

    I remember this one, but only because one of the cyclists was Mr. Burrows'
    long-time partner in recumbent racing crime, Andy "The Flying Window
    Cleaner" Pegg.

    --

    Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
    World Domination?
    Just find a world that's into that kind of thing, then chain to the
    floor and walk up and down on it in high heels. (Mr. Sunshine)

  5. Isn't there one on at the moment that shows small boy playing on
    bikes, then same small boy grown up and having the same kind of fun
    driving his new car? I will try and pay more attention next time I
    see to, to see what car it's for (it might not even be for a car, I'm
    just assuming. What will all adverts being the work of Stan and ones
    for cars even more so, I tend not to pay them much heed).

  6. Quoted message said:

    Any one else remember there or any others or where I might get more
    information on them?

    The one for the Honda Jazz. The pecking order of the road. "How come
    everyone hates the cyclist?" IIRC

    A little googling reveals the following details

    Client: Honda
    Model: Jazz
    Campaign: Pecking Order, Bus Lane, Seats
    Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, London
    Creative Directors: Tony Davidson, Kim Papworth
    --
    Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

  7. Hi Phil,

    Good one.

    The interesting thing about the Honda 'Pecking order' ad is the way it
    says 'the cyclists hate the pedestrians and then goes on to say that
    'the CARS hate the cyclists' rather than saying 'the bicycles hate the
    pedestrians' or 'the car drivers hate the cyclists'...

  8. "Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
    news:[email hidden]...

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    Any one else remember there or any others

    Don't remember any of those. A group of roadies is seen "skakin' that
    ass" in the Megane advert. Not actually dismissive of cyclists, if you
    can imagine such a thing!

    Then there is the cool Nike Lance advert:

    http://www.nike.com/wearyellow/seelanceride/main.html

  9. Quoted message said:

    Any one else remember there or any others or where I might get more
    information on them?

    There was an animated one for, I think, Honda voiced by someone who
    sounded a bit like PJ O'Rourke (but I'm pretty sure wasn't), talking
    about the pecking order on the road... "The cars hate the cyclists,
    the cyclists hate the pedestrians, the lorries hate everyone" etc.

    I also can't remember if the cyclists featured in the visuals or
    just the voiceover.

    So not many details there 🙂

    I did find this little piece of writing while I was googling for
    it thought: http://www.bikereader.com/contributors/misc/ferguson.html

    Pete.

  10. Quoted message said:

    Hi Dave,

    Do you know any more details such when it was broadcast?

    'fraid not, sorry. I think I only saw it once and was informed some time
    later about Andy's involvement...

    --

    Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
    World Domination?
    Just find a world that's into that kind of thing, then chain to the
    floor and walk up and down on it in high heels. (Mr. Sunshine)

  11. MartinM said:

    2. If you do buy brand X you live in a designer flat the entire
    contents of which are beer/chocolate and a semi clad partner.

    You mean this /isn't/ /true/?

    I want my money back, or a semi-clad partner.

    Now.

    Bah!

    --

    Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
    World Domination?
    Just find a world that's into that kind of thing, then chain to the
    floor and walk up and down on it in high heels. (Mr. Sunshine)

  12. Pete Bentley said:

    I did find this little piece of writing while I was googling for
    it thought: http://www.bikereader.com/contributors/misc/ferguson.html

    I like the last bit on that page:

    There's something else, as I realised in Oxford Street, even when
    walking down Oxford Street. There are two types of people: those who
    can walk down Oxford Street with a modicum of understanding that other
    people are walking down the same street, and who possess reasonable
    20-20 vision and a rough intuitive grasp of spatial physics; and the
    ox-people. The same split comes on bikes and in cars; there are those
    who always notice others, and those who never ever will; and I'd like
    to say that never the twain shall meet, but too often that is
    precisely, suddenly, literally, what they do.
    --
    Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

  13. MartinM said:

    audrey wrote:

    What will all adverts being the work of Stan and ones

    Quoted message said:

    for cars even more so, I tend not to pay them much heed).

    precisely; most TV ads revolve around the premise that;
    1. If you don't buy brand X you are a nerd/loser.
    2. If you do buy brand X you live in a designer flat the entire
    contents of which are beer/chocolate and a semi clad partner.
    3. If you don't buy a Vodafone you will get murdered in a lonely
    country lane after breaking down.

    Don't forget the STRONG implication tht if you
    don't buy a Volvo you clearly WANT your family
    to be killed.

    BugBear

  14. "MartinM" <[email hidden]>typed

    Quoted message said:

    Also not entirely relevant but when either BP or Shell started selling
    snacks and hot drinks at their garages they ran an ad where a female
    cyclist (I assume she was, you only saw the helmet not the bike but
    let's not go there) comes in to get a cup of coffee. But they were
    appealing to cyclists and other types, not car drivers.

    They _want_ to be Audax Controls? ;-)

    --
    Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
    Edgware.

  15. Helen Deborah Vecht said:

    "MartinM" <[email hidden]>typed

    Quoted message said:

    Also not entirely relevant but when either BP or Shell started


    selling

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    snacks and hot drinks at their garages they ran an ad where a


    female

    Quoted message said:
    Quoted message said:

    cyclist (I assume she was, you only saw the helmet not the bike but
    let's not go there) comes in to get a cup of coffee. But they were
    appealing to cyclists and other types, not car drivers.

    They _want_ to be Audax Controls? ;-)

    Naah; she was allowed to walk in rather than standing shivering outside
    next to the Calor Gas and disposable BBQ's with a chocolate milk drink
    carton and a cold sausage roll at 0300 ;-)

  16. Quoted message said:


    Any one else remember there or any others or where I might get more
    information on them?

    Personally I love this Fiat one although some cyclists find it offensive.
    http://www.uel.ac.uk/subaqua/site/videos/jokes/fiat.mpeg

    Tony

  17. MartinM said:

    precisely; most TV ads revolve around the premise that;
    1. If you don't buy brand X you are a nerd/loser.
    2. If you do buy brand X you live in a designer flat the entire
    contents of which are beer/chocolate and a semi clad partner.
    3. If you don't buy a Vodafone you will get murdered in a lonely
    country lane after breaking down.


    Apparently most car ads aren't designed to make you *change* brand.
    Because car owners are so brand-loyal, they're just supposed to make you
    feel good about the one you drive in the hope that you'll buy from them
    again.

    Me, I bought one that would fit in the garage.

  18. bugbear said:

    Don't forget the STRONG implication tht if you
    don't buy a Volvo you clearly WANT your family
    to be killed.

    And if you don't wear a cycle helmet you are a Bad Father because you
    might be killed and leave your family unprovided for. I've had this
    from people at work.

    Personally I have quite enough interest in keeping myself alive, family
    or not.

    Oh bugger, sorry for subverting the thread to h*lmets again ;-)

  19. Tony Raven said:

    Personally I love this Fiat one although some cyclists find it
    offensive. http://www.uel.ac.uk/subaqua/site/videos/jokes/fiat.mpeg


    I don't find it at all offensive. I've always found it hugely funny. So
    much so that I've got it downloaded on my 'puter somewhere.

    --
    Cheerful Pedalling
    John Mallard

  20. Quoted message said:

    Any one else remember there or any others or where I might get more
    information on them?

    The Fiat one that Tony's already mentioned is a true classic.

    There's an American one for a credit card called Citi, which shows 3
    mountain bikers, one without a bike. This link was posted here last
    November:
    <URL:http://screeningroom.boardsmag.com/commercials/mountain.mov> (1.29MB).

    Then there was one a year or two back that caused a great deal of
    controversy in cycling circles. It showed a paper-boy, on a bike,
    hurling newspapers into gardens. Then a motorist threw one back at him,
    knocking him off the bike. Google finds a thread headed "Toyota Advert"
    from August 2002.

    --
    Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
    <URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/>
    "He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

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