Fred 'Italian' bike ads in VeloNews.

Has anyone seen those full page 'buy Italian' bike advertisements in
VeloNews? The bikes always look dorky, and the 'riders' even more
dorky. One shot shows an attractive young lady with a no-name bike with
vintage ergopower levers deep drop and reach bars and like a 44cm width.
She's in jeans and I guess we're supposed to believe this is her campus
bike , yeah right.

Since the bikes pictured are so ugly, and very un-Italian looking, I
wonder if they're really from the Italian bike builders association or
whatever they call themselves. I assert the ads are from Taiwan , and
they're hoping to make us not like Italian bikes. :-)