This entry was posted on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at 7:53 am and is filed under Advertising, Twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Don’t cycle to work, it’s for dorks
That’s the message in this TV advert from State Farm, a US insurance company:
“To save money due to the rising cost of gasoline, a businessman rides his bicycle to work.”
Jim: “Oh, man I’m dead.”
Thanks to Spinopsys who got it from Streetsblog, which has this take on the ad:
The idea flickers across your medial prefrontal cortext, that part of the brain the neuromarketers are always trying to get to, Hey, maybe I could get fit and healthy by biking to work like Jim. For $369 a year and whatever gas money I’d save by not driving I could buy a really nice bike. Until this State Farm ad interrupted the ballgame I was watching on TV, it never even occurred to me that I could bike to the office park.
“Start saving your way.” And thus idea is implanted: I’m going to start saving by biking to work every once in a while. Thanks, State Farm.
Not all ad agencies are anti-bike, pay them and they’ll promote anything. Sometimes they come up with decent, pro-bike ads for their mainstream clients, such as:
