General Motors Bike Ad Pulled After Complaints

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.

Comments

[meemo9600]

04:22 PM on 10/24/2011

Fellow Americans:

I am using a bicycle today as my primary source of transportation because I had a inside look at General Motors Corporate Fraud. While employed under contract as a New Products Technical Service Trainer within the Greater San Frncisco Bay Area between 1985-1991; I soon discoverd that the GM Dealership Network was installing remanufactured engines and transmissions in New Motor Vehicles selling them as new to the general public.

The powertrains installed at the factory would not allow the vehicle to exit the vehicle delivery carrier under it's own power, most were pulled off the carrier by cable or chain, pushed into the dealership and the technicans would exchange the new units with remanufactured units; furthermore using metal stamps to install the VIN Number exchange. This is fraud, contact the California Lemon Law Firm of Norman Taylor, Eq. Burbank, CA. asap to find out if your vehicle is a new/used vehicle and get your money back from GM!

[DenverBigDaddy]

07:08 PM on 10/18/2011

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo..................not Obama Motor Company................Nooooooooooooooooo

[pfz]

10:46 AM on 10/19/2011

Cons are ridiculous.

[Mochilero]

07:02 PM on 10/18/2011

I could list all the ways that us bicycle riders are doing you motorists a big favor, but you'll probably be just as annoyed the next time you have to slow down for a few seconds when passing one.

[pericoisbored]

10:09 AM on 10/18/2011

I think this ad is funny, I think its funny because when I get honked at or some fool dosen't give me enough space and almost runs me off the road when I'm on my bike I just think to myself, when I am 60 I will be fit and not have ED and that guy will be still be obese and will be driving himself to his Proctologist's office to deal with his colon polyps and then to his pharmacy to re-fill his insulin. Also I can ride a bicycle pretty fast so heaven help you if I catch you at a stop light, because you will learn a lot about the laws regarding cyclists.

[pfz]

10:45 AM on 10/19/2011

So riders don't have ED, cancer or diabetes? Or are you belittling folks who have health challenges because you are basically an a$$whole at heart? You probably tick off drivers by cutting them off or running stop signs just so you have something to whine about.

[fozzi58]

01:04 PM on 10/17/2011

Oh stop. They made an ad, its meant to be funny, some people didn't see it that way.

I like to cycle as well. I'm not giving up my GM vehicle cause of this advertisement. If there was an outrage for everything that was offensive to everyone, there would be no ads on TV.

Ok, maybe you people are on to something.

[sjoberdix]

12:11 PM on 10/17/2011

GM is all but washed up, When GM and American Axle ( thier driveline division that GM spun off) conspire from the sale 3/4/93 to now to destory this country. All for greed. My claims are easy to prove but getting them into court is a different story. Thats where the bought politicians come in.change laws to do their bidding. Soon theres going to be a national boycott against AAM products, that GM trucks and its Camroe. Since the workers didn't ask for more money or benfits, they negotiated to keep their jobs in this country. That why the # 1 auto maker went into bankrupcy null and viod those contracts. They closed plants that made them profits and quality parts (yes, all documented) so investors could have a bigger profits Work went to Mexico for $8.00 a day and yes there already ben recalls on the products from Mexico. With our nation in the mood that its in now. No problem getting our message thru. Since no benfit in these companies making them poster childs, piece cake!!!!

[personal beliefs]

10:22 AM on 10/17/2011

America, constantly appeasing the whiny liberals daily.

[Mochilero]

07:00 PM on 10/18/2011

Boy, you really have to stretch hard to make this story about whiny liberals. You are obviously obsessed. When did riding a bicycle become a partisan political issue?

[dumocraps]

09:52 AM on 10/17/2011

Nice job Obama Motors.

[pericoisbored]

10:10 AM on 10/18/2011

December 19, 2008 GW signed an executive order to apply TARP funds (possibly illegally) to the auto companies.

[pfz]

10:48 AM on 10/19/2011

are you still whining about that? He saved GM, GM paid back the loan. Did you cry this hard when Reagan saved Chrysler?

[dumocraps]

07:00 PM on 10/19/2011

Hey brain surgeon, it was your hero Carter that provided the bailout of Chrysler the first time.

[vetxcl]

10:19 PM on 10/16/2011

Speaking of green transportation, and I am, here's an interesting graphic: http://gas2.org/2011/10/16/from-here-to-there-which-is-greener/

[Counterintuitive]

10:05 PM on 10/16/2011

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I occasionally drive a GM vehicle. And yes, I'm the one who feels awkward when eco - friendly cyclists see me. I might start wearing a disguise.

[headstrong]

02:10 PM on 10/16/2011

I see the management at GM is still as braindead as ever.

[Kenz300]

11:28 AM on 10/16/2011

GM was out of touch in the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's....... and it almost led to the end of the company.

They are out of touch again. They are getting pulled kicking and screaming to the future with a few energy efficient vehicles.

It is time for the old guard that still living dreams of the 1950's to move on.

Hyundai and Kia and Ford are gaining market share with fuel efficient vehicles.

[trumphent]

12:54 AM on 10/16/2011

GM's irony is a lil' rusty. It sells bicycles. The infamous Denali is/was available at WalMart. It's GM through and through. It's a roadbike with schrader valve stems. It all goes horribly wrong from there.

[palindrom]

08:58 AM on 10/16/2011

"It's a roadbike with schrader valve stems. It all goes horribly wrong from there."

To anyone who knows bikes, that is hilarious.

May I recommend the prolific blogger "BikeSnobNYC", if you aren't already a fan. He's a really gifted comic writer. Makes fun of everyone, but includes himself and seems to have a good heart, which saves it.

[barkingcat]

12:35 PM on 10/16/2011

Excellent post -- very funny.

Fanned and faved.

[niumarmion]

11:52 PM on 10/15/2011

Tobacco companies mail free cigarettes to college students in a related marketing scenario.

[Dameocrat]

08:11 PM on 10/15/2011

Doesnt matter whether gm makes fun of them. Young people cant afford cars, particularly their young workers working for tiered wages, at the behest of uaws sellout leadership.