Torzwei

Has anyone seen that Norelco commercial where it says, "What do professional cyclists think of Norelco's new so-and-so...."?

The first group of riders that speak are a German team wearing yellow jerseys. Does anyone know if this is a real team and if so where I can get that jersey?

RegularGuy

I've seen the commercial. It's a hoot. I think the first time I saw it was during the 2002 TdF. I assume that the teams depicted are fictional and their jerseys are spoofs. I am willing to be proven wrong on that, though.

I went to norelco's website and poked around for an answer. I even chatted with a "live" service representative who I suspect was actually a computer program. (QUOTE Darren: I am a real person). No luck. But I got a toll free phone number that you might want to call 1-800-243-3050. Call during normal business hours. That's probably your best bet for an answer.

Torzwei

Thanks.

If they're not real they went to an awful lot of trouble to create some nice jerseys for such a charade.

bikeman

Hey money is no object when it comes to advertising. You'd be shocked if you knew what large companies pay for their advertising budgets in a year and doublely shocked when you'd find out how many millions of razors they will sell worldwide. It is mind-boggleing. So making up a bunch of custom jerseys was probably no big deal.

Where I think they really missed the mark in the ad on TV was they should have shown the racers using the razors on their legs instead of just their faces. It would have made so much more impact and more memorable in the simple minds of the "non-cycling" audience. The whole ad is supposed to be "funny" but a memorable image would have been a good addition. Of course when you have non-cyclists producing the ads that is what you get. Of course maybe they thought if they showed the "legs" shots it would have put too "weird" of an image in the ad. One of the first rules in advertising is "remember the target audience". We Americans are too straight. Bet the ad would be completely different in France or Italy and nobody would have blinked an eye.

It would be fun and nice to know more about the details of the ad and who those guys are. I think I did see an "American" racer with TREK on his jersey. Am I right on that?

khuon

If you're willing to pay for it, you might be able to find a copy of the commercial on AdCritic .

bikeman

I was watching an hour of the X-Games (they were held in my town this summer) today on the networks and they played the ad twice.

Torzwei

Yes, there was an American in a red jersey.

I'm well aware of commercial production costs relative to the income of a multinational corporation(Please don't read this as a hostile statement towards you). My own fixation on that jersey created a bit of faux incredulousness I guess.

I figured it was fake since I couldn't recognize any of them. Ah well. It probably says "Toilet Ferret" or something in German anyway(I didn't get a good look).

Puckloki

I saw this ad for the first time just as I was gettin gin the door from my ride today. I think it's a hoot.

And... I was waiting to see them do exactly this. Too bad they didn't; it would've been an instant classic.

wabbit

Sometimes when I watch the grand tours, you see all these cyclists standing by the side of the road (usually in the mountains) and I often take note of their jerseys. Some of them are pretty nice- if I get to europe I'll definitely see if I can find cool local club jerseys.

As for the ad, haven't seen it yet. Anyone see that ad for the deodorant with the green stripe?

khuon

Speaking of commercials involving cycling...

Has anyone seen the latest Chevy commercial where they have some Chevy NASCAR car driving through the middle of a bike race in Europe forcing riders off the course?

[1] Are any European automobile racefans even impressed with NASCAR?

[2] Does it strike anyone as poor taste depicting motorists running cyclists off the road?

After all the recent motorist-cyclist confrontations I've been noticing lately around my area, I'm apalled that the networks would air such a stupid commercial. Just what we need... more people behind the wheel thinking they're in a race and that mowing down cyclists is now fashionable. |8^(

John E

I have not seen said commercial, but if I ever do, I shall immediately send a strongly-worded epistle to the CEO. This sort of stuff is obviously unacceptable.

goodcatjack

haven't seen it, thank god. but there's a sense of humor out there (IOW, vulgar, coarse, low-brow) which loves this sort of thing. OTOH, there was a commercial I thought hilarious where a bicyclist forces a semi trailer truck off the road with a whack from his massive Casio G-Force type watch. the difference here, I think, is that there's the surprise factor of this nonsensical special effect as well as a certain automatic sympathy for the underdog.

>>stereotyping alert<<: the sorts of people who'd get a kick out of watching a car, especially a NASCAR Chevy forcing guys in brightly colored tights on bicycles off the road are the same people who laugh when others fall and hurt themselves and who put stickers of pissing boys on their cars' back windows. I could definitely go on, but I think I'd better not.

*big sigh*,

--alex.

RacerX

The Norelco commercial- Castelli jerseys and Helen's team (local southern calif team) in the yellow and green. The german team is either a fake or some euro team jersey- maybe a club jersey.

Maelstrom 

I hate that adcritic went pay

bentbaggerlen

Goo... Funny ad! I love the little bit at the end when the rider gets his hi face slapped after whispering in the ear of the woman on the podium

But on the other hand... Have you seen the ad for the under arm deodorant? The cyclist represent order, and a giant rubber band is stretched across the road is the deodorant. You see the cyclists fly backward though the air ... its funny, but Im still not sure. You do get to see the cyclists chasing after the guys that stretched the rubber band across the road.

ChipRGW

I love the NASCAR vs Bike ad. At least from a NASCAR fan point of view. It is pretty funny that when it came out, Jeff Gordon (the driver of the car in the ad) was not winning any races. In fact he wasn't even finishing all that many. Many diehard NASCAR fans hate Jeff Gordon, probably because he's not a "southerner" nor part of the "good ole boy network. But it was funny because it kind of insinuated that the only way he could win a race was to try against bicycles.

RonH

Either I don't watch enough television or else I'm watching the wrong network(s) because i haven't seen either the Norelco or the Chevy-NASCAR ad.

Are they shown just on certain networks?

goodcatjack

that makes a big difference to me. not that I like the idea of the advert any better, but at least it isn't really what I thought it was. I grew up with enough of that s**t here in the south.

--alex.

wabbit

Bent, that was the ad I was referring to. One funny thing though in the last shot, you see the cyclists running after the guy and chasing him. I imagine they took their shoes off? I can't imagine how they'd be able to run.. clop clop clop!

Cipher

Hey RonH don't feel bad, I haven't seen them either...

knifun

they used an ATV to film