Cars and bikes sometimes don’t get along that well, but car companies and bikes get along really well together. From sponsorships of race teams, to recently a couple different companies have featured bikes in their ads. Today Volkswagen of America announced the beginning of its 2 year sponsorship of Peopleforbikes.org, which is a good step in the right direction for all.
More about the sponsorship with Volkswagen and People for Bikes. Read it Here
Maybe this will also bring some inspiration from Deutsch, the advertising group that brought us the Star Wars themed Volkswagen at *Supper Bowl ad. This year they will be featuring a new ad with the same theme, and have released a teaser for it.
Volkswagen 2012 “The Bark Side” Teaser for upcomming *Supper Bowl Commercial.
Volkswagen 2011 “The Force” Commercial from last years *Supper Bowl.
*Due to trademarking you can figure out what the *Supper Bowl is.
I like the idea of electric cars, and building them in the heartland of Illinois is great (my home state), but this Mitsubishi’s ad campaign gives Normal, IL an odd feel to me. They’re trying to sell it as small, rural, town America or “Anytown, USA” (a quote in the ad), to promote for their new “i” electric vehicle or MiVE. They show images of corn/soybean fields, small barbershops, quiet neighborhoods and old movie theater. That is not what I know or think of, when I think of Normal.
The MiVE has a MPGe/Range of 112mile, the longest right now for any full electric. This rear-wheel-drive electric vehicle will retail for $29,125 – $31,125.
Back to the ad: Yes, Illinois, outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area (CMA), has lots of corn/soybean fields, small shops, quiet neighborhoods and some old movie theaters. But Normal is way more than that. I grew up 30 miles away from there, and have spent lots of time in Normal.
Normal might have a population of 52,500(7th largest populations outside the CMA), but that doesn’t count the 20,000+ students attending the oldest public university in the state each year, Illinois State University (ISU). That movie theater in the video is located on the newly redesigned downtown area oddly renamed as “Uptown Normal” and is right next to the more lively ISU campus. Along with that there is Bloomington, IL, Normal’s sister city, usually referred to as Bloomington-Normal together. Bloomington has a population of 76,610(5th largest populations outside the CMA). It is hard to tell were one city starts and the other stops. There are other large companies located there other than Mitsubishi. State Farm and Country Financial, and ISU employ loads of people. Not to mention all the car dealerships, shopping, restaurants, and other manufacturing that are located there.
Other than the misleading about Normal being a small town, I actually really like this video, and efficient vehicles. I like when companies refer back to places where I grew up and know well, it works for me, even if some of the information is not all there.
Bikes are even used in the car industry. In the Mitsubishi Normal, IL photo gallery you can see these two Worksman Cycles in action on the factory floor.
Some new traffic laws have come into effect here in Oregon pertaining to both cyclists and car drivers. The law were put into effect on 1-1-2012.
As mentioned in Eugene’s First Bike Only Traffic Signal, Senate Bill 130 has now taken effect. The main thing is that the bill adds bike only traffic signal to Oregon’s list of traffic control devices that can be used. It also defines that bicycles must follow all traffic signals just like all other road vehicle. Most in Eugene might already realize we have these signals placed in on the Alder St. cycle track. Portland also has a couple of these signals around the city.
Here’s a biggy, House Bill 3186 amends ORS 811.507 which allowed cell phones to be used if “A person operating a motor vehicle in the scope of the person’s employment if operation of the motor vehicle is necessary for the person’s job“. With no way of knowing whether drivers were using their phone for work, there was basically no enforcement of the law. Anyone could use their phone if they just claimed it was for “work”. With HB3186 it removes this loophole, No drivers will be able to use a cellphone (with the exception of emergency vehicle drivers), and there is absolutely no texting by any drivers at all. Drivers can still use hands free devices while driving, but putting the phone on speakerphone doesn’t count.
These are 2 great laws that have taken effect, keeping all of the users of the roads safe for cars, bikes, and pedestrians.
For more about these and more about other traffic laws in effect read it here on Oregon Live.
Recently GM had placed this add in many college newspapers across the country and has taken a lot of flack for it. The ad depicts an embarrassed young man on a bicycle covering his face from an attractive female sitting comfortably in a GM car. With the Quote “Stop pedaling… start driving.” at the bottom. GM has decided to pull the ad and they are apologizing for their offensive ad. (via there Twitter)
GM "Reality Sucks Ad"
Giant Bicycles has recently released a more truthful ad as a follow up to GM’s misstep.
There are some new great bike racks here in Eugene. I think they are pretty nice looking. The racks were designed by students at Lane Community College. Here are some photos I took of them yesterday.
There is a herd of deer in front of the Kiva Grocery Store across from the bus station. In an on street bike corral called the “Deer Park” .
Located in front of the Kiva Grocery Store at the corner of 11th Ave and Olive Street.
Here is the “Big Wheel” along with signs pointing to major landmarks in Eugene; they include the distance and their approximate travel times by bike.
Located in front of the Morning Glory Cafe at 450 Willamette Street, Eugene, OR
It seems there soon will be more of these nice bike rack art installations. Here is some information about it from The Register-Guard Article
Another artistic corral — titled “Real Wheels” — is planned to be installed in front of the Cornucopia Restaurant on Pearl Street north of Fifth Avenue next spring. It will include a wagon wheel, bicycle wheel, paddle wheel and others representing several historic modes of transportation.
I was watching TV tonight and there was a pretty funny commercial on. Toyota’s commercial for the 2011 Venza. The Commercial is about a teenage girl talking about how adults are anti-social. Meanwhile the parents are mountain biking with friends, and she is sitting on Facebook like most young people. There seems to be a lot more bikes in car commercials within the last couple years.
::Update::
Here’s another Toyota Venza commercial with the same girl talking about how old her parents are.
I grew up in central Illinois. In August of 2007, I bought my first real “adult bike” after needing a bike to save money on gas. Since then I have had many bikes. In April of 2010, after moving out to Oregon, I got my beloved Surly Long Haul Trucker. I have put a lot of good miles on the bike. This blog is about my life in Eugene.
Cars and bikes sometimes don’t get along that well, but car companies and bikes get along really well together. From sponsorships of race teams, to recently a couple different companies have featured bikes in their ads. Today Volkswagen of America announced the beginning of its 2 year sponsorship of Peopleforbikes.org, which is a good step in the right direction for all.
Bread Bike 