burden

For your consideration, a layout from today's Chicago Sun-Times:



On the left, page 8:

A full-page story about 20-year old college student Tommy Young Choi, who apparently peeled out from a traffic light at high speed in his Mazda RX-8 while driving home from dinner, lost control, hit a steel road divider, and was killed along with his two friends. The back seat passenger reportedly died of smoke inhalation, trapped in the resulting fire. The car had to be transported to the medical examiner's office so that the bodies could be extracted for autopsy.

On the right, page 9:

A full page advertisement, entitled "GMoverdrive", in which the awesome, testosterone-thumping power of Pontiac's "GXP Performance Series" is described to us in excruciating detail. Headers proclaim, "Turbocharged" and "Hit the Throttle" (!) and "Faster than the... Porsche Boxter." These cars are for the "true driver" who needs to accelerate faster than those schmucks who drive a long list of competitor's offerings. Including Mazda's.

The more I look at this spread, the less I'm able to get my head around it.

Page 8, the story of three bright kids killed by the very culture of power and speed sold to us on Page 9.

Page 8, where families and friends struggle to understand a meaningless loss; Page 9, which doesn't even bother with a disclaimer: like, say, "Inexperienced young men should not attempt to actually drive cars like this on the road anywhere near the stated limits, because you and your friends might die."

Page 8, a crumpled, scorched Mazda that lost control; Page 9, Pontiac's shiny yellow alternative to that Mazda, for just $27,115 MSRP.

Everyone in Chicago is probably well-accustomed to the Sun-Times being shady, stupid or insensitive, but personally, I cannot help but see this as an astonishingly disgusting example of some combination of those things.

Cycling content:

A couple of weeks ago I hit a patch of ice while riding too fast during my commute home, lost traction, and went down pretty hard. I scraped up my elbow a little -- it hurt like hell, and bled, and scabbed up, but is now entirely healed.

My bike did not burst into flames.

The Sun-Times did not publish an article about my incident, in any context, including a context that would be so distasteful that I'd end up posting about it here.

Az B

It must not be made of carbon fiber.

It does seems a little unfortunate to have that ad opposite the story. Car culture is so ingrained on 'Mericans that most of us can't see the forest for the trees. I'm sure Mr and Mrs Three Car Garage would never have made that connection.

But it's nothing new. On average, almost 43,000 people die each year in this country alone because of cars. The vast majority of those incidents could have been easily avoided. Most of these crashes get no news coverage at all.

Az

Brian

Re: Page 8 - Were the two in the back really bright? Because there was no indication the driver was.

Re: Page 9 - Are you new to this planet?

mrpsmr

"43,000 people die each year in this country alone because of cars."

Really now!. In 50 years, I have never had the experience of my car opening its doors, turning itself on, backing itself down the driveway and driving itself to work. I have always had to do these things. I'm pretty sure none of my neighbors and friends have had this experience themselves either.

The point is traffic accidents are caused by PEOPLE, not the cars. People need to use their heads. They need to maintain their cars properly. They need to act appropriately. When they don't, accidents happen. The same, incidentally, applies to cyclists. Slow down if the condition of the roads is compromised.

I have sympathy for the families of the young men involved, because they are feeling emotional pain right now. The fault however, lies with the kids in the car and not Mazda. Also, this kid did more than just "peel" out. To have that kind of destruction, the driver had to be going well over the speed limit. He could have done that in a Volvo.

Michael

Bikepacker67

Zoom Zoom

Bikepacker67

How is it that car manufacturers are allowed to advertise their products being used in irresponsible manners?
Could beer producers run ads showing college kids funneling?

baiskeli

<sarcasm>
Obviously, like 99.999% of people, you never read the disclaimers in fine print at the bottom of cars ads on tv 'performed by professional drivers on a closed course'</sarcasm>

You are right, it makes no sense to advertise a cars top speed of 155MPH. I think the beer ad analogy you make is totally fitting'

Bikepacker67

"Performed by a Professional alcoholic in a closed bar"

baiskeli

Some guy wrote about the psychology of car buyers. It was called "High and Mighty" and dealt with SUV's but I think there is a lot of sub-conscious psychological stuff going on with car advertising, or any type of advertising for that matter.

Bikepacker67

Of course there is. All advertising is about promising more than the product can hope to deliver.
The question is, when does that "propaganda" become criminal?

I say that if your product can be used in an irresponsible manner, it is irresponsible (and LIABLE) to advertise that product being used in an irresponsible manner.

How about Smith and Wesson using Terminator 'clips' (pun intended) to sell their latest .45?

DogBoy

[ot]The point is GSWs are caused by PEOPLE, not the guns. People need to use their heads. They need to maintain their firearms properly. They need to act appropriately. When they don't, accidents happen. [/ot]

Sorry, couldn't help it, it was just too close to the guns don't kill people type comments.

N_C

I think some of you are missing the point of this thread. The Op is not saying the kids are not responsible for the accident. The driver is responsible for driving recklessly thus losing control, etc. He was probably showing off for his friends & they all paid with their lives, tragic.

The point of the OP is he is saying it is very tactless for the paper to publish the article about the accident then a full page ad for car sales on the next page. Wheter by accident or on purpose I agree it was very tactless for the paper to do this. They should have been paying more attention. From what the OP says the paper does crap like this all to often.

zeytoun

Agreed. Some of us are commenting that it is also distasteful for auto companies to continue to advertise in a way that exhibits their car like some kind of testosterone-fueled rocket ship.
Granted, people are responsible for their own actions, but most advertising has the goal of sublimating free will.

Bikepacker67

Really?
I thought the OP was commenting on the tactlessness of publishing an ad for a motor vehicle that insinuated that such product is designed to be used in an irresponsible way.

It's not that a car ad is in bad taste, it's that the car ad proposes "Zoom Zoom".

Az B

Okay, you like precise semantics. How about "because of car crashes".

I know you understand my point and just enjoy being a smartass.

Az

baiskeli

I agree.
I think that auto advertisement (at least a lot of them) fall into the irresponsible category (like advertising SUV's as safe when they roll over more than your dog and pretty much ensure that the poor schmuck in the car you hit has a much higher chance of dying).some times someone crosses the line by so much that it becomes obvious (Hummer's recent 'reclaim your manhood' ad debacle).

So my vote would be that car companies, especially makers of SUV's that serve no other purpose than stroking the ego (Hummer, H2, H3) etc are liable.

Brian

Some cars are testosterone-fueled rocket ships.

slvoid

It's ironic, most of the ads I see on tv for these things seem more reponsible than the suv ads. Most of the sportbike commercials show people either on a professional track (like you can really tell its on a track) or someone on the road riding at normal speeds responsibly, except for a few of em. Most tv ads either show suv's doing stuff that would make em burst into flames in real life or sports cars flying through the city at 150mph being chased by a trash monster.

genec

I'm still trying to figure out what good 0-60 in 5.5 seconds is, in typical traffic...

lyeinyoureye

That's because motorcycles are usually 100% 4rl fast. They don't need to convince anyone of this, just show the public the product. Cars otoh, not so much... So they need to show us how, whatever... they are.

catatonic

Cars are plenty fast. Even a 105mph top speed 4-cylinder 1993 Mustang can be fast in trained hands.

It's just too many untrained fools now are getting their hands on 300+ horsepower monsters, and thanks to the high price and general difficulty in finding suitable tracks to "play" on, they take it to the streets. This usually ends in a cloud of fiberglass, steel and whatever they just hit.

The ads are just that, ads. I do think it's pretty stupid to show off a sports car racing around the city though. Really, the primary customer can probably figure out it's fast on their own.

I really wish companies like Ford didn't cave in to consumer pressure with their high end cars....now you can get a Mustang Cobra R without a racing license. For the longest time, one was mandatory....no license, no purchase. That generally kept those rather fast cars in qualified hands (a VERY good thing). I also wish many companies enforced rules like that for their high-end sports cars.

It's not very expensive to get those classes (compared to these cars)....but if you can pass them all, it shows you can at least handle a sports car halfway decently. (the other side of it, is that license can be lost very easily for street infractions...so people will tend to drive nicely to keep their race licenses).

For SUVs.....all bets are off....those things are top heavy and should be driven carefully.

Brian

Not everyone lives in SoCal. Utah's I15 is a smooth ribbon of asphalt, free of traffic and enforcement most of the time. We flew to CA 2 weeks ago, and it took 30 minutes to make the 45 mile drive home from the airport. That's with my 103HP toaster.

N_C

I don't agree with that. It is not up to the paper what the ad looks like. It is up to the graphic design people, they probably work for or are contracted by the car manufacturer or a dealership. The paper then decides where to put the ad. Who knows why they picked the spot they did for the article & the ad. Maybe this was the frist page of the ad section of the paper & the article was the last story in that part of the paper.

lyeinyoureye

That's an interesting idea of fast. The way I've looked at it, it's much more likely, and easier, to find a cheap, or even free bike that'll run 11-12s qms. There are plenty of stock bikes with ~.75-1:4 power to weight ratios. Cars? Not so much... I'd love to find a free 250hp 2000lb compact, but I doubt I will. Otoh, I have found free Honda NightHawks. I don't think I could even find a free, or even cheap (and not needing thousands of dollars worth of parts) 12s car...

genec

Most people live in cities... which is why they tend to be crowded. I would be willing to bet more sports cars are sold in cities then out in the middle of Utah.

Doesn't make sense, but then a lot about a lot of cars doesn't make much sense.

Pickup trucks are fine for the farm, but how many city motorists really need a jacked up 3/4 diesel pickup anyway? And Hummers... the local malls are full of them... guess we're getting ready to invade Mexico.