Is riding a bike really that lame? General Motors would like you to think so, or at least they did until pulling an advertisement targeted at college students.
The ad, seen here on Urban Velo, depicts a man on a bicycle being passed by an attractive woman in a car, with the headline "Reality Sucks."
The ad ran in a number of college newspapers and as a poster on college campuses, offering a college student discount on several GM models, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Tom Henderson, a GM spokesman, said:
The content of the ad was developed with college students and was meant to be a bit cheeky and humorous and not meant to offend anybody. We have gotten feedback and we are listening and there are changes underway. They will be taking the bicycle ad out of the rotation…. We respect bikers and many of us here are cyclists.
General Motors has been using social media to apologize to offended consumers. For several days, the company's Twitter feed has been filled with messages to users who have complained.
Bicycle manufacturer Giant released a parody of GM's ad, suggesting that if you ride a bicycle, "The only thing you have to lose is some weight.. and the burden of fuel prices."
ABC News reported on the comments one UCLA professor made on a cycling website about the ad. He said, "GM, the company that required us taxpayers to bail it out in 2009, is now biting the young people who bear and will bear the environment and health damage of its gas swilling ways."
Click here to view of some of the most attention-grabbing advertisements in recent memory.