Wednesday, 29 January 2014

Scottish cycling advert banned over ‘no helmet’

A television advert promoting safe cycling has been banned for showing a rider without a helmet.

The advert, part of a campaign by Cycling Scotland, seeks to encourage drivers to give cyclists the same space and care as they would give a horse.

But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it should not be shown on TV again as not wearing a helmet was "socially irresponsible".

I saw the title of this story and thought hmm could be interesting then I saw a still from the ad that shows a car overtaking a woman on a bike with the caption “SEE CYCLIST THINK HORSE”, and after doing a double-take, rubbing my eyes and looking again to make sure, I thought that’s a bit harsh on the woman just because she’s not wearing a helmet we should think of her as a horse.

But apparently that isn’t the point, the real point of this ad is to tell drivers if you see a cyclist you should give them the same space as a horse, which is monumentally stupid.

I don’t know if the people behind this campaign have ever seen a horse before, but they’re quite a lot bigger and take up far more room than even the fattest of individuals chugging along on a bike.


I’m pretty sure when they were putting this ad together they were thinking of a Shetland Pony and got confused, even the bit about the ASA moaning about the no helmet is stupid, as wearing a helmet is not a legal requirement, so the ad is wrong the reaction is wrong everything about this is just, well wrong. 

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