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How do you guys like that Saturn ad?



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 16th 04, 07:48 PM
Trudi Marrapodi
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Default How do you guys like that Saturn ad?

Anyone seen the ad for that one Saturn model that plugs its dent-resistant
finish? A series of "things" are shown crashing into a parked Saturn,
including (as if it were just another "object") a cyclist. He crashes into
the car, flips over and hits his (helmeted) head against the hood as he
gets flung onto it.

The message of the ad: It doesn't matter what your car collides with, the
finish won't have a scratch or dent afterward.

I thought to myself: Would they have shown a pedestrian running into the
car and getting flung up onto the hood? No. Would they have shown a child
on a bike (even one in a helmet) cracking into the car and getting flipped
over and flung onto the hood? No.

But it's perfectly OK to present an adult cyclist--at least a helmeted
one, I guess--as just another obstacle that your car might happen to
collide with (or that might happen to collide with your car...hmm, wonder
why), but be reassured not to worry, he will slide right off your hood
without leaving a mark.

Please. Tell me I'm not the only one who gets angry watching this! I'm
sure the auto manufacturer's excuse is "It's very clear in the ad that the
accident is the cyclist's fault because he slams into a parked car (yeah,
like most cyclists have a problem avoiding parked cars). We're not
encouraging any driver to think of adult cyclists as just another nuisance
they might run into on the road that might scratch or dent their car."

Yeah. Sure. They show a cyclist in quick cuts with other "objects" such as
shopping carts and so on. Yeah, he's just another "thing" that might ruin
the finish of the car owner's precious baby by catapulting himself over
its hood.

Sigh...
--
Trudi

"Cleveland still rocks."--Me
Ads
  #2  
Old September 17th 04, 12:47 AM
Robert Haston
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Default

I'd be mad about it, except idiot wrong-way cyclists ramming cars isn't
uncommon.


"Trudi Marrapodi" wrote in message
...
Anyone seen the ad for that one Saturn model that plugs its dent-resistant
finish? A series of "things" are shown crashing into a parked Saturn,
including (as if it were just another "object") a cyclist. He crashes into
the car, flips over and hits his (helmeted) head against the hood as he
gets flung onto it.

The message of the ad: It doesn't matter what your car collides with, the
finish won't have a scratch or dent afterward.

I thought to myself: Would they have shown a pedestrian running into the
car and getting flung up onto the hood? No. Would they have shown a child
on a bike (even one in a helmet) cracking into the car and getting flipped
over and flung onto the hood? No.

But it's perfectly OK to present an adult cyclist--at least a helmeted
one, I guess--as just another obstacle that your car might happen to
collide with (or that might happen to collide with your car...hmm, wonder
why), but be reassured not to worry, he will slide right off your hood
without leaving a mark.

Please. Tell me I'm not the only one who gets angry watching this! I'm
sure the auto manufacturer's excuse is "It's very clear in the ad that the
accident is the cyclist's fault because he slams into a parked car (yeah,
like most cyclists have a problem avoiding parked cars). We're not
encouraging any driver to think of adult cyclists as just another nuisance
they might run into on the road that might scratch or dent their car."

Yeah. Sure. They show a cyclist in quick cuts with other "objects" such as
shopping carts and so on. Yeah, he's just another "thing" that might ruin
the finish of the car owner's precious baby by catapulting himself over
its hood.

Sigh...
--
Trudi

"Cleveland still rocks."--Me



  #3  
Old September 17th 04, 04:26 AM
Mong Yek
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"Trudi Marrapodi" wrote in message
...
Anyone seen the ad for that one Saturn model that plugs its dent-resistant

But it's perfectly OK to present an adult cyclist--at least a helmeted
one, I guess--as just another obstacle that your car might happen to
collide with (or that might happen to collide with your car...hmm, wonder
why), but be reassured not to worry, he will slide right off your hood
without leaving a mark.


Cars are bigger, faster, more massive that bicycles, so when a bicycle runs
into a Car, which is most often the case, the Bicycle flips over the car.
As a Bicyclist you need to accept this, and your inferior position in terms
of Physics on the street.
Just accept that Cars are more massive, and through their weight around.
Get angry, you'll be dead soon.


  #4  
Old September 17th 04, 02:32 PM
Paul Cassel
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Trudi Marrapodi wrote:

Anyone seen the ad for that one Saturn model that plugs its dent-resistant
finish? A series of "things" are shown crashing into a parked Saturn,
including (as if it were just another "object") a cyclist. He crashes into
the car, flips over and hits his (helmeted) head against the hood as he
gets flung onto it.

Anybody who buys a Saturn for any reason at any price is stupid enough
not to be troubled by that ad. What next - will Goodyear show a bike
being run over and crushed by the same car and then brag that you can
run over 100 bikes before getting a flat?

-paul

  #5  
Old September 17th 04, 03:51 PM
Karen M.
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Default

Mong Yek wrote:

Cars are bigger, faster, more massive that bicycles, so when a bicycle runs
into a Car, which is most often the case, the Bicycle flips over the car.
As a Bicyclist you need to accept this, and your inferior position in terms
of Physics on the street.
Just accept that Cars are more massive, and through their weight around.
Get angry, you'll be dead soon.


Trudi's point, completely missed herein, was that cyclists are
people, not just propulsion mechanisms for Things That Might Scratch
Your Valuable Paint Job such as shopping carts.
It's strange to read this commercial's synopsis, since my mind is
full of adverts showing cars and stairs and mailboxes and peletons and
little kids in a hospital waving, all featuring some cyclist who could
wear a different yellow shirt every day for two months.
Shall we contact Saturn? Sometimes a company's ad agencies aren't
even communicating with their marketing department.
HTH

--Karen M.
doesn't Saturn still sponsor a cycling team?
  #6  
Old September 17th 04, 03:55 PM
Karen M.
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Found this on another cycling website:

http://www.saturn.com/saturn/contact...x.jsp?nav=4200


You're welcome!

--Karen M.
  #7  
Old September 17th 04, 06:49 PM
Raoul Duke
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Default


"Paul Cassel" wrote in message
...

Anybody who buys a Saturn for any reason at any price is stupid enough
not to be troubled by that ad. What next - will Goodyear show a bike
being run over and crushed by the same car and then brag that you can
run over 100 bikes before getting a flat?


Huh? What's the big deal about Saturns?

Dave


  #8  
Old September 17th 04, 09:09 PM
Trudi Marrapodi
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Default

In article . net, "Robert
Haston" wrote:

I'd be mad about it, except idiot wrong-way cyclists ramming cars isn't
uncommon.


Yeah, but this guy isn't a 40-year-old riding his 10-year-old's little
bike (to my experience, what most of these wrong-way guys look like). He's
tricked out in a helmet and cycling clothes a la Armstrong. Not likely to
be representing a wrong-way Corrigan.
--
Trudi

"Cleveland still rocks."--Me
  #9  
Old September 17th 04, 09:09 PM
Trudi Marrapodi
external usenet poster
 
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Default

In article , "Mong Yek" wrote:

"Trudi Marrapodi" wrote in message
...
Anyone seen the ad for that one Saturn model that plugs its dent-resistant

But it's perfectly OK to present an adult cyclist--at least a helmeted
one, I guess--as just another obstacle that your car might happen to
collide with (or that might happen to collide with your car...hmm, wonder
why), but be reassured not to worry, he will slide right off your hood
without leaving a mark.


Cars are bigger, faster, more massive that bicycles, so when a bicycle runs
into a Car, which is most often the case, the Bicycle flips over the car.
As a Bicyclist you need to accept this, and your inferior position in terms
of Physics on the street.
Just accept that Cars are more massive, and through their weight around.
Get angry, you'll be dead soon.


And you miss the point--which is to protest the whole "might makes right"
attitude that many drivers seem to have about cyclists.
--
Trudi

"Cleveland still rocks."--Me
  #10  
Old September 17th 04, 09:12 PM
Trudi Marrapodi
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article , "Ken [NY)"
wrote:

[snip]

I am sure that others were angered, but it never occurred to
me until you mentioned it. It's advertising, plain and simple. Make
believe.


It reflects societal attitudes, though. And that bothers me.

Yeah. Sure. They show a cyclist in quick cuts with other "objects" such as
shopping carts and so on. Yeah, he's just another "thing" that might ruin
the finish of the car owner's precious baby by catapulting himself over
its hood.

Sigh...


Good day. Or as John Kerry would say, bonjour.

Ken (NY)

"I think it was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein, and when
the President made the decision, I supported him, and I support the fact
that we did disarm him."
--John F. Kerry (ABC News, 5/4/03)


Could you keep the politics out of it, please? Thanks. (And for the
record, I'd say the same if you were supporting Kerry, the Queen, or
Zontar from another planet.)
--
Trudi

"Cleveland still rocks."--Me
 




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