General Cycling Discussion - The Renaming of France

Check out Nike's new campaign.

http://www.adrants.com/2005/01/nike-launches-lance-france-ad.php

The link will take you to the photo.

Here's the text: A new campaign for Nike, originating from Melbourne agency, Publicis Mojo, is designed to pay tribute to the larger-than-life heroics of Nike personality, Lance Armstrong. The press and poster work, entitled, "Conqueror," features a close-up glimpse of a classic-style map of Europe,* only if we look carefully, France has become Lance.

The creative team of writer, Paul Bootlis and art director, Tim Forte used an actual cartographer (from Philips Maps in the UK) to make the ad look more authentic and un-ad-like * in the tradition of elementary school Atlases. The ad will be featured in cycling magazines, outdoor and point-of-sale.


- Thank god they used an actual cartographer. We wouldn't want it drawn incorrectly.
- My question: if another country were to alter the U.S. map in an attempt to sell shoes.....

**** Nike.

http://www.adrants.com/images/LanRGB_275x205.jpg

**** Nike.

???

RT

Well, maybe there ought to be a contest for the "best" new name for "France"...how about the one proposed in 1914 and again in 1940...."West Germany".

Or, perhaps France needs a new national "motto"...."We don't need a bath - we invented perfume"

alanbikehouston--may I assume that you are from the land of oil and asphalt and fat people in cowboy boots? Just what are the qualities worth anything in Houston?

oh, yeah, texas...home of a certain bozo and his cowboys (and cowgirls) making fools of all the rest of us before the whole world. Ya know, I should be used to that by now, but for some reason I keep thinking that i'm bound to wake up from this very long, very bad dream.

One more reason to not buy nike stuff, aside from the poor quality.

What about changing the name to Freedom land? After all that is where Freedom Fries are from huh? :)

I can see this getting ugly....
just cuz french women don't shave doesn't mean you should slander them!


:D

Freedom fries originated in Belgium :p

alanbikehouston--may I assume that you are from the land of oil and asphalt and fat people in cowboy boots? Just what are the qualities worth anything in Houston?



Due to our fondness for Suburbans and big pickup trucks, Texas is about out of oil. We do have an unending supply of "fat guys in cowboy boots". Oddly, the fat guys with cowboy boots are often WITH attactive ladies wearing cowgirl boots.

And, Texas oil can pay for those boots. Some of the wells around Houston are down to providing only about a barrel of oil a day. Why bother with bringing up ONE barrel of oil? Well, $40 is still $40. A barrel of oil would pay for twenty bottles of Lone Star beer up at the ice house on the corner.

you know ya'll are getting WAY to worked up
about an Advertizing campaign. It isn't real.

VeloGirl Don't judge texas by 2 people you think you know, its
almost as narrow minded as the people you are criticizing.

you know ya'll are getting WAY to worked up
about an Advertizing campaign. It isn't real.

VeloGirl Don't judge texas by 2 people you think you know, its
almost as narrow minded as the people you are criticizing.

Shouldn't you have started with 'Now hold on there, pardner'? :D

Yah, I could have but I didn't want to
be too cliche.
Besides I'm fixin to come up with something
real smart, like "all hat no cattle" or equally insultin'

Watch the invasion of France LIVE on Pay-Per-View! Tomorrow only 8:00-8:03PM EST! Only $69.95!

What do we call the people then? They used to be called the French. Should we call them the Lench mob?

**** Nike.

So you're not shopping at WalMart this weekend?

So you're not shopping at WalMart this weekend?
:D

So you're not shopping at WalMart this weekend?
Nope never do.

Due to our fondness for Suburbans and big pickup trucks, Texas is about out of oil. Texas has about cornered the market on "fat guys in cowboy boots". Oddly, the fat guys with cowboy boots are often with attactive ladies wearing boots.

Houston's ladies hail from everywhere on the planet...Mexico, Ft. Worth, Russia, El Paso, Jordan, Nigeria, Killeen, China, Indiana, India, and Minnesota...and an amazing number of them look terrific in their jeans and boots. A "quality" that is worth a lot to the men of Houston.

I would never "joke" about France or the French. Wouldn't be prudent. If you think I am joking with my proposed "motto" for France, ride the Paris subway at 5:30 p.m. in July. The dense cloud of body odor mixed with industrial quantities of perfume will send you choking to the nearest exit.

Or, for that matter, ride the subway in the summer in NewYork, London, San Francisco, Barcelona, any major metro area. Pretty much the same.

Personally, I like the French. Get outside of Paris and you'll find some lovely, very hospitable people. Great food, wine, scenery. They're a bit argumentative sometimes, but so what? So am I. And so are you. :D

Jeezzz and I thought there were intelligent folks here

I proclaim thee... FLANCE!

Ummm, Munich is just so NOT located there.

Of course it is, silly!
They used a REAL CARTOGRAPHER.

I proclaim thee... FLANCE!

I think the whole Nike ad is more like flatuLANCE :D

Ummm, Munich is just so NOT located there.

Munich has not moved recently. It is still about a six day march from Munich to Paris. (Oops. Did I say "march"? I meant "hike".)

Due to our fondness for Suburbans and big pickup trucks, Texas is about out of oil.
not by a long shot

Can we call them McFrance"? :D

Koffee

Can we call them McFrance"? :D

I think it's been done.

http://www.geocities.com/edinger03/images/pop_under2_03.gif

I think it's been done.

http://www.geocities.com/edinger03/images/pop_under2_03.gif


Whooo hoooooo!!!!

Do they sell the McLance in McFrance? :D

Koffee

It's kind of funny how it's "OK" to make fun of French people. Try that with black, Jewish, etc. people.

Culture is a funny thing.

why don't they call it hairy land if the people are so hairy?

Whatever their other faults, France is a great cycling country. They understand cycling there, in a way that North Americans do not. They won't try and force you off the road or yell insults at you just because you are on a bike.

I wonder what they will think of being renamed?

VeloGirl Don't judge texas by 2 people you think you know, its
almost as narrow minded as the people you are criticizing.

I used to live there, in Austin. It was great.

I also lived in France. It was better.

Having cycled France multiple times and married to a Francophile French teacher and befriended by lots of French student exchange hosts ,who have stayed with us and having hosted many French students.....I take deep exception to all the French bashing...( by the way, many t shirt vendors have beat Nike to French bashing.)
I get pretty boiled over French bashing..1- While cycling in their country , I was never treated but with complete respect and befriended by many with whom I met.
I say this French bashing is abnormal and it mostly comes from this side of the big pond...Some sort of complex, I believe..
The stories I could site as having completed multiple French bike tours...Much friendlier than what I have experienced going though Nevada or where ever..The problem lies with us, I say and the world does not find it funny. The image of the Ugly American pre-dates present conflicts by about 50 years. I like to think this image is fastly blown out of proportion, but some days I wonder...
I do not appreciate it , because with enough trolling, maybe my next bike ride to France, Italy , Germany will not be as pleasant if trolls have their way.
I know, I am being too serious to a frivilious thread... I hope.

I used to live there, in Austin. It was great.

I also lived in France. It was better.


Ditto. I lived in Austin for two years- VERY bike friendly town, as long as you stayed in town. Go out into the country and you take your life in hands. (Ask Lance).

I lived in France as well. VERY bike friendly country. Nothing but courtesy from cagers. People usually bash others when they feel a deep-seated inferiority - that's pretty much what was behind the holocaust. The French are very proud of their culture, as they should be. I loved what the spokeswoman for the US French Embassy said when asked about the whole "freedom fries" thing - "We have much more important things to think about than what to call a potato".

i was just bashing them cause i'm bored. i really am indifferent to them

It's kind of funny how it's "OK" to make fun of French people. Try that with black, Jewish, etc. people.

Culture is a funny thing.

I make fun of everyone, I'm an equal opportunity offender.

I find stereotypes usually completely incorrect. Even about we Americans... Yeah, One of Lance's potential killers is serving a 10-20, I think...Those pick up's are lethal, even w/o a gun rack...Another sterotype.

I make fun of everyone, I'm an equal opportunity offender.
Frankly, there three types of people:

1. EOO, like you and me.
2. Those who never ever laugh at any stereotype joke... man, they must be just so unhappy.
3. Those who laugh at only some... and they're hypocrits.

to summarize:
1. jerk... people hate us.
2. uptight... waiting for that brain vein to pop.
3. well, the worst of the bunch and they don't even realize it :(

Lord Opie..I laugh at stereotype jokes...So many I run into take them seriously however. Some here sounded serious.. There is so much of this our French guests know of and think it serious.. The whole French wine down the sewer thing...
Some Arab Americans were seriously injured of late. That does not seem too fun.
I recall having sport with some woman at a Greek fast food chain...She was In front of us ordering 'freedom fries' last summer....As we often do, we had French guests with us...We over heard the 'freedom fry thing..'from some patron directly in front of us..So we had a big discussion of the merits of their french fries, when our turn to order.
But, I never order 'freedom fries'..whatever they are called....Most Fast food chains massacre the fries...No taste all grease..Maybe freedom fries are less greasy, so went the conversation. Liberated from grease..Hurrah...
BUt this time, as that woman waited for her order , we debated whether or not we wanted 'french fries.' Asked how, do you do your 'french fries ' ? are they fake potatos or loaded with grease and can we have them with mayonaisse.. The three of us debated that subject for minutes..The woman in front of us got the idea...My wife ordered her french fries in broken french ..The whole thing is redilicious..
Our French guest was sort of insulted... That particular franchise of the 'Daphne' chain actually re-named their fries 'freedom' fries on the menu.. absurd.....if we had known we would have avoided the place.
as to their requirement they support our war to remain friends...How about the Germans, Canadians, Spanish, Mexicans..Why pick on the french.

It's kind of funny how it's "OK" to make fun of French people...

Now, I'm confused. I thought this was the thread where we make fun of "Canadian people". Where did THAT thread go?

I thought this was the thread where we make fun of "Canadian people".
way too boring. Let's make fun of jews.

way too boring. Let's make fun of jews.
Hey! I resemble that remark! Gotta go! Somebody just dropped a penny!

Hey, I'm all about making fun of everybody....

I'd just like to see a thread making fun of black people. It would get canned in a heartbeat.

It just seems to me that we should make fun of everybody or not make fun of anybody at all.

And like it or not, most stereotypes have some basis in reality.

'some' can be pretty misleading.

Nike's ad continues the US colonisation of the world by stealth.

Just to put this into perspective, A friend of mine's father was in the 101 Airborne that liberated France on D-Day in WWII. He recently retraced his fathers footstep thru Europe. The people in the villages welcomed him as a hero once they found out what his father had done. There are numerous monuments and the French actually maintain the graveyards of fallen US soldiers on the beaches of Normandie with meticulous care. What rhetoric you may hear from politicians and press isn't necessarily the reception you would receive from the gracious and thankful French/Belgian people who truly comprehend the sacrifice done on their behalf by American Soldiers.

In my opinion, the recent anti-French sentiment is part of the propaganda machine. France had the audacity to criticize a controversial war, and so must pay the price, apparently. I just find it ironic that those same conservatives that hate on France and the EU, have nothing but good things to say about China when the issue of globalism and cheap third world labor comes up. Our list of friends and foes is starting to make no sense whatsoever. And speaking of third world labor, Nike sux.

Its OK to make fun of the French because that has nothing to do with them but rather their country. Making fun of Jews is making fun of their religion and the stereotypes associated with them, and making fun of Black People is called Racism - you are making fun of them because of the color of their skin. Now, if you look at French people, they cover a broad category of people, many of whom you can associate yourself with (aka Catholics in the US follow the same religion as Catholics in France etc)...

Squeezy..One of my bike tours was through Normandy...No, the French are unlikely to maintain the American Normandy cemeteries...Reason. the French deeded over those sites to the U.S. and the American flag truly flies over American soil, where the US fallen rest. I have been there...Likely maintained by whatever US agency that maintains military cemeteries.
I agree having riden all thoroughout Normandy...
You will see sites maintained by local governments commerating battle sites where American's died with the American flag flying..with battle plaques speaking of the American dead and what occured here...Stopping at pubs/cafes we sensed nothing but appreciation for what the US did in WWII..
I get sensitive to this issue...We hear of the ocassional demonstration throughout Europe...It is not against the American people. I get sick of having to explain why we do the silly things we do towards the European friends, when they experience anti -European bashing as our friend Marylene did at "Daphne's" restaurant.
..For those rare incidents where our friend can't find "Freedom Fries" in her English -French dictionary...and it makes us embarrased to have to explain. Particularily, when over there we had been treated with nothing but kindness.