GM taken down by Giant
Earlier this week the lovely advertisement department at GM started a campaign focused on selling cars and trucks to college students and recent grads at the expense of bicycles.
Apparently a new Chevy (or a Buick if you happen to be 95 years old and freshly graduated) will help you succeed in life and get you the girl of your dreams. While a lot of people are angry about the advertisement and find it offensive, I think it is all about the context in which it is viewed (in this case, viewed in a light different from that in which GM would like). The image of a cyclist hiding his face from the woman in the car says to me that the cyclist is shunning the driver and avoiding making eye contact with someone with whom he has a very different opinion and very little in common; she may be pretty but he would not sacrifice his transportation choice just for a good-looking face. Admittedly, this is a pretty far-fetched view and obviously not what GM or pretty much anyone else would see in the advertisement.
The clever staff at Giant Bicycles launched a response campaign the next day. Giant matched the tone, they matched some of the fonts and they seem to have struck a chord with GM as GM has since pulled the original advertisement. Here is the Giant version:
I wish they would have matched the main headline font. Maybe they have a corporate standard that they are required to use?
The images are linked from thegoat.backountry.com