swekarl

I bought my first issue of Bicycling Magazine the other day and was surprised to have a VW spread smack in my face the first thing. Then Honda, Subaru, Land Rover, Nissan, Saturn, Chevrolet...

Well why shouldn't bikers like a good SUV to take them to the best places for biking, but I was still surprised.

Spire

I was going to make the same post in regards to Bicycling magazine, but you beat me too it. Check the back cover for a large interchange for a volkswagen ad. The roads would be horrible for cycling and not a bike lane in sight. This in a cycling magazine.

S

swekarl

Hm, I don't have that (the may issue, ”editor's choice”). Almost all ads are bike-specific, like SUVs to carry the MTB.

Spire

Mine is June, so keep an eye out for it!

S

martin

Bike rags wouldn't exist if they had to rely only on bike manufacturers for advertising dollars.

Also, the bike magazines cater to mainstream readers that have disposable income to spend on their advertisers products.

You have to face reality that the anti-motorized vehicle types that post here are in the minority in society.

If the ads didn't generate a lot of revenue for the advertisers they wouldn't be advertising in the bike rags.

aturley

I was surprised the first time I saw a VW ad in Bike magazine. But then I thought about it and realized that I have a Jetta and I read Bike, so they're probably targetting the ad pretty well.

I think most people who read bicycle magazines own cars, and I definitely don't think that owning a bike automatically makes someone anti-car. And the car manufacturers probably hope that they can link a love of biking with the image of their company.

So in the end, it all makes sense.

andy

LittleBigMan

Yes, that's true.

It's because of this that we have such serious smog problems.

cycletourist

I disagree that cycling mags can't survive without advertising from auto makers.

A well written mag that attracted equal numbers of male and female readers could replace motorcar adverts with ads from companies that make hair and skin care products, home electronics, etc. - basically, all the things that men and women use every day. The advertising department just has to work harder and go after them.

orguasch

I know one bike mag that doesn't carry car advertisment and its "Cycle Sport", that's why I have stop my subscription with Bicycling Magazine, almost all their articles are recycled and maybe 3/4 of the mag is advertisment, nah not my type.....

mike

I'm willing to bet that MOST bicycle mag readers spend a lot more time in a car than on a bike.

Thus, it almost makes more sense that bicycle mags have more automobile adverising than bicycle advertising.

MadCat

Speaking of VW ads and Bicycles.
I found this one in a graphic design book a while ago. It was posted in Consumer Magazine as a full page ad. I found it a little disturbing myself.
What do you think?

swekarl

I think it was quite fun!

orguasch

yes, it is really an energy absorbing door, it will sap the life out off that cyclist

RiPHRaPH

if you read bicycling magazine and the car ad's are the only thing that bothers you than you are a better man than i.

Feldman

It's another reason to pay the premium to get Uk Future Publications' excellent "Cycling Plus," as well as our country's own Velonews. The car ads have always struck me as weird, kind of like condom ads in a Catholic mag.

aturley

MadCat - yeah, that ad is pretty bad. If Ford ever had an Excursion ad with a picture of a family about to get smacked by a truck and a caption that said, "Energy absorbing crumple zone", I think they would be in trouble. But somehow the VW ad is acceptable. I hope somebody got a stern talking-to.

andy

Oxymoron

Ever look in Nat'l Geographic or Ouddoor Magazine? At this point I wouldn't be surprised to open Audubon Magazine and see an add for a nuclear powered SUV.

I know someone who hit a car door at 20mph and flipped over it, landed on her back and was then yelled at and insulted by the driver while she lay gasping for air. She would not find the VW add very amusing. That was the day she quit commuting by bike.

Clay

Steele-Bike

Not to sound too anti-corporation, and not to get off too far on a tangent...but I digress...

Corporations have ungodly power when it comes to media of all sorts. How can you belittle someone who is paying your bills? With the mere mention of pulling of an advertisement, a corporation can control what can be said. Why do you think Politically Incorrect was cancelled? Perhaps it had something to do with Bill Maer perceivably insensitive remarks about 9/11. In that instance, major advertisers pulled their support.

Car ads do not belong in cycling magazine, but neither do pharmaceutical ads belong on the nightly news. One last word...NPR.

mike

Funny?

I tell you what is funny; Funny they didn't have the guy opening his car door and stepping out of his car into an oncoming bus. Jeez, why didn't they use a bus? Now THAT would have been more funny.

LittleBigMan

Ya, like instead of "energy absorbing door padding," how about, "break away doors," with an oncoming bus.

hillyman

Anybody see the commercial for the deodorant with a strip?They stretch a rubber strip across a rode and snag a group of roadriders to show how it stops 'odors'.

Spire

Is this actually supposed to be funny for VW? This is one of the most leathal situations for a cyclists and obviously they are not concerned for that poor cyclist in the picture. What kind of message does this send out?

Its not, "how do I stop from injuring the cyclists", its "how do I minimize the damage to my car".

Where exactly did you find this ad?

S

Allister

Well, the cyclist is gazing off to the side instead of looking where he's going, so he probably isn't destined for a long career of riding in traffic anyway.

Spire

He is not gazing into space, he's checking his blind spot to get around the car. Not the moving car in the extreme left of the picture. He is doing a left look to pull out and pass!

velocipedio

This isn't entirely true. Rodale Inc., Bicycling's publisher probably sells blocks of ads across books. VW and Saturn and others probably get a discount for appearing in Men's Health and Backpacker if they take ads in Bicycling and Mountain Bike. It's possible, even likely, that the cycling magazines aren't their target at all.

Ironically, then-company president Bob Rodale was killed by a car in 1990.