1nterceptor

In one of the more remarkably ill-conceived car ad campaigns of all time, good corporate citizen GM is heading to campus to actively stop you from riding a bike by trying to make it look like it sucks. Obviously it’s been a while since GM execs and their creative teams set foot on campus. Anyway, I’m sure the campus facilities people will love having to add thousands of extra car parking spaces on campus at $30,000 a pop (who needs more buildings to learn in anyway, lets fill campus with parking structures); and University Presidents will have a little bit of explaining to do when it comes to those end of year climate and greenhouse gas targets… Maybe it’ll generate more business in the gym where students can drive in to go and ride on stationary bikes. Hope there’s enough parking.

https://www.bikeleague.org/news/gm_blunders.php

mihlbach

Some students do need cars. Not all colleges students live in campus dorms or nearby student slums. Many colleges have no nearby housing, or like the college I work at, have no affordable housing for miles in every direction. I agree that the add, which seems to belittle cycling, is ill conceived.

Steely Dan

need and want are two different things. i commute by bike 14 miles each way to work everyday. i doubt there are many colleges in the country where a student can't find any affordable housing within a 14 mile radius of campus. many students may not WANT to ride a bike that distance to class everyday, but that hardly makes car ownership a NEED for most able-bodied college students.

and let's not forget about public transit/campus shuttles that exists to one degree or another in most college towns/cities.

mgw189

I am with Steely I have yet to see a college town that doesnt have housing for students near by

rex_kramer

The more I looked at that ad, the angrier I got. Not just because they're an "evil corporation" trying to sell cars, but in the insulting approach they took to make those who ride bikes look like losers. It's downright insidious.

I still drive, btw. I have three kids, so there's no way that I can escape that reality. Me and my wife simply have to drive from time to time. But rest assured that I will not be buying (or even renting) a GM product EVER. That's how much this ad annoyed me.

RichardGlover

Not all colleges are in college towns. Or, to put it another way, the existence of a college does not make the town a college town or have enough population density that public transportation is reliable.

Additionally, there are those students who are simply too busy to afford the time it takes to commute by bicycle. A college friend of mine took 18-20 credits per semester, while working three different part time jobs. I commuted by bike (20 miles each way, even though I owned a car), but she never could have.

Mr Danw

At some colleges you need a bike to get to your car.

unterhausen

the grad student I work with leaves his apartment by bike and gets passed twice by some students. They drive to the remote lot they are allowed to park at, and he rides past them. Then they get on the bus and ride in to campus. They could just get on the bus at home and save themselves 30 minutes, but no, gotta drive the car. I'm pretty sure the bike commute is no more than 15 minutes. You can walk in about the same amount of time it takes to do it bi-modal.

tsl

Yeah, but are they supposed to be honest?

Try this: "Yeah, we're effing rich, and that was before the government bailout. Now we want your money too. Buy a car, before you get educated and learn you don't need one."

Yeah, that'd work.

Easy Peasy

+1
But consider the source - a brand that developed the Hummer, produced unreliable cars for decades, and required a bail out.

Andy_K 

That's a great discount. So if I were in college, I could get a car for less than $20,000. Or I could get a bike and 80,000 packages of ramen noodles.

no1mad 

Okay, read the article and then hit up the GM/Chevy site to see what the 'College Discount' was all about...

-It's aimed at college students, grad students, and recently graduated. A traditional college student or a grad student wouldn't have the required debt to income ratio to obtain financing. However, the discount could be a boon for the non-traditional student.
-Of course, if qualified, one must take the finance package that they stick you with AND the lending entity that they stick you with- Ally.*

I'm not a fan of that ad, either.

*Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that Ally is the old GMAC that went belly up due to some (some? try a crap ton!) of risky loans...

CB HI

Well, GM did need to counter their own commercial that made people want to ride more than drive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35ZBrrPinnw

weshigh

@pathlesspedaled already posted a great photoshop of the ad on twitter today. https://yfrog.com/hsvfskkj &
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...50980333_n.jpg

Part of the campaign is also anti-bus/tranist. Los Angeles's Metro system posted this today.
https://thesource.metro.net/2011/10/1...eneral-motors/

mgw189

LOL I love that commercial... I gotta wonder what his cadence is though his lil legs are just a flyin

K'Tesh

I'm at PSU, and I noticed the ad... I think it belongs on the FAIL blog.

jsdavis

This is very dependent on the land. In an urban environment, biking 14 miles each way can easily take 2 hours. Driving costs more, but it also means saving as much as 90 minutes each way. In my neck of the "woods," I'm running into a traffic light or stop sign at least every 500 ft.

When I have to do my 8 mi commute, that easily consumes 50 minutes each way. My 3 mi commute takes about 20 minutes each way.

BridgeNotTunnel

i would like to think that most people who dont ride would find this ad ridiculous as well.

this is basically wrong, and wholly unnecessary in almost every way i can imagine.

unfortunately, this kind of marketing, likely has some influence over college freshman.

Mithrandir

Think of it this way. A few years ago I tallied up the most expensive parts of my life, over my entire adult life up to that point. Rent was #1, but the car was a close second. Nothing else came anywhere close.

So now you say that a bike takes two hours to get to and from school every day. Subtract 30 minutes for time you would be driving instead, that leaves 1.5 hours. IRS says cars cost 51 cents per mile so we're looking at $14.28 per day. So you need to make $9.51/hr or more to make the car worth it in terms of time, assuming you don't get any exercise. But say you exercise the minimum that doctors recommend, 30 minutes 5 times a week. If you cycle for exercise that means the car is not worth it unless you make $14.28 per hour or more. The more you exercise, the more that number goes up. 5 hours of exercise a week? You need to make $28.56 or more per hour then. I think it's fair to say the average student doesn't make $14/hr.

This doesn't even factor in the benefits you get later in life by avoiding gigantic medical bills by being generally healthier.

So by bicycle commuting you can actually save time by working less because you no longer have to pay for a car.

degnaw

Since the ad directly targets cyclists, I'm assuming their target audience is 'college students who live within 2 miles of campus'.

The only reason anyone at PSU (that's Penn State Univ., for K'Tesh) would need a car is if they live somewhere not well-serviced by intercity bus service, which doesn't include Philadelphia, NYC, Pittsburgh, etc.

Ira B

Government Moters is already a joke. This is just the punchline.

jsdavis

You only accounted for the trip to school. There is a total savings of 3 hours per day counting the return trip too. I don't know what your college was like, but between classes, assignments, work, and domestic chores like cooking and laundry, even with only a 12 unit semester load, I surely didn't have an extra 3 hours a day to spare so I could ride my bicycle to and from school. This is why I chose to live only 4 miles away.

If I am saving 3 hours a day by driving, even if the car costs 51 cents per mile, then that cost is only about $4.75 per hour.

earthworm94

Adding to this discussion, I would focus on the ad itself and skip over the financial and logistics aspect because everyone's situations is a little unique. However, if you are a college student in need of a car, buy a reliable used car. Used cars are much better deal than a brand new one if you do your due diligence.

I don't get why the cyclist on the bike needs to be ashamed of himself. He is riding (for that little bit I can see) a nice looking bike. Also, no respectable girl would laugh at cyclists beside the ignorant kind which I don't care (no offense, neither should anyone who is on this forum) too much for anyway. This is especially true because of most college campuses I know, bike has be a well-established mode of transportation.

Finally, as a man I can't get inside a female mind on how a female would view a male cyclist. However, may I dare to say bike adds considerable points to the attractive factor of any female.

Ads are designed to sell things. Therefore, proper use of humor/sarcasm or selective emphasis of facts are allowed in general. However, this ad has went beyond the said rules.

vtjim

I read this as "CM" (Critical Mass) and was wondering what this thread was going to be about.

Burlington has a student parking problem. It falls back to that "need" vs. "want" a car thing. Even living off-campus, the student ghettos are within easy walking distance of campus, not to mention stores, restaurants, and bars. Heck, there are "ski buses" that will take students to area mountains. Nobody "needs" a car here.

chipcom 

Email sent...how stupid can you be to diss something that some of your better customers, like me, use daily? I told them that I took it as a personal insult.