…it’s an image of a middle-aged guy on an upright bicycle, advertising Auckland Transport-sponsored summer bike events. And he’s wearing… business casual? No lycra or high-viz in sight, and he’s even starting to sport a slight paunch (like too many of us get from too much sitting around, me included)?
This guy looks like he’s enjoying himself, rather than going out for some extreme sport. Yeez, you know, maybe the rumours that Councils are utterly incapable of promoting everyday cycling are just a little bit off the mark?
Of course there’s also the lovely “Iway” campaign images Hastings District Council is running, pointing out the fact that pretty much every cyclist is also a driver, and that “those cyclists” are everyday folks like you. What I get from this is that just as there aren’t “those cyclists”, Council cycling promotions aren’t all the same – and some of them are pretty good, as you can see.
[Max is the grandly-named "Infrastructure Liaison" of Cycle Action Auckland. It was that or call himself "The Infrastructure Guy"]
Nice to see the councils starting to get the right idea
This reads like an apology for Auckland Transport. The same organisation that has let down cyclists on Tamaki Dr.
Reizar, I wrote this post because I am sick of the attitude of some people that try to perpetuate a “us vs. them” attitude, and those that like to generalise because it is so much easier to tar everyone with the same brush, and feel justified about it.
Auckland Transport is an organisation with over a thousand staff. Some of them are useless. Some of them (including the woman who created this advertising campaign) are among the most dedicated people I know, working hard and long to improve this city for cyclists.
They do this in the face of a still mostly listless public, in the face of uncaring politicians and managers, in the face of people who love to slam “the Council” for being lazy bastards, and which also constantly ask them “Why don’t you do more (with less of our rates money)?”.
This was not an apology for Auckland Transport. This was a response to a variety of earlier posts on this blog. This was making a point about cycling promotion, no more, no less.
Those iWay ads are superb. How do we get those (or maybe even a slightly fresher version thereof) in Auckland?
For me the posted Auckland ad is somewhat a step forward in terms of attitude – I think it’s a shame though that it’s so obviously a static posed image (prop under dude’s right foot photochopped out?) in front of a drawn background. The dude is recognisably a human not a cycloborg but still there is an odd department store mailer quality to it for me…
One cheap option: if I were at Auckland Transport I’d have a standing section on a website somewhere for people to send in cycling-related photos – maybe a weekly or monthly prize from time to time – on the condition that AT might use them in their promotions. People have bloody good cameras these days and like to share their masterpieces around. Can’t hurt to have actual real cyclists in actual real Auckland surroundings on display in these ads.
In fact, I’d propose an ongoing fashion-style campaign with autumn, winter, spring themes… buying into the reasonably current “bike as essential accessory” thing. Get the cycle fashionisti to cull the best from their blogs or Tumblrs, offer a suitably non-dorky prize for submissions… that’d work. Get all aspirational with this thing. Just a thought.