Why no bike adverts?

[Penfold]

Ok I'm just watching the TV and on come the adverts.

Everything is out there in tele selly land, but where, where are the adverts for bikes?

In the UK that has concerns for an obese population and global warming etc etc why do the ad men try to sell us everything but a healthy option.

Is it the lack of a big UK cycle manufacturer, (Raleigh) or a lack of money in the industry as a whole?

Do we even need adverts to sell bikes?

Any thoughts on this subject

[whoops]

[

Do we even need adverts to sell bikes?

Any thoughts on this subject[/quote]

No. There's no competition. If anything, the pastime of cycling is the thing that needs selling!

[hubgearfreak]

i saw this companies advert in the weekend papers.

i doubt the quality would endear a beginner to the joys of cycling

http://www.sterlinghouse.co.uk/bogof/sp ... ?offerId=7

[horizon]

penfold: I see what you mean but I 'm quite glad they don't. TV advertising would imply a big enough company to do it. At the moment the only company big enough is Halfords (who do advertise on TV). Apart from them, no manfacturer or retailer is dominant enough to go on TV. This is good as cycling still relies on local shops and small builders offering a fairly bespoke service, even on cheap bikes. What we don't have is a high street bike chain (excuse the pun) like Boots or Blacks. This is possibly because bikes are still a low margin (or low volume), high service area that lends itself best to small operators. I think this is why Halfords struggles with the level of service they aspire to.

However, it may be a good idea to appreciate even Halfords while they last. The current trend is for the big supermarkets to expand into non-food goods and with people like Lidl and Tesco selling bike stuff (while not offering the service to go with it), it cannot be long before Halfords feels the pinch. The end result will be, like almost everything else, two or three very big players, dozens of very small players and nothing in the middle. Halfords is currently in the "middle".

This will make websites like this one even more the exclusive preserve of the dedicated enthusiast. But I can imagine Tesco running an Easter promotion along the lines of "Buy bikes for all your family, pick up some healthy sandwiches, get the right cycling togs (fashionable shorts etc) and some after-ride shampoo and head off to your local two mile cycleway for a great bit of Tesco exercise". In fact the bikes will have been better used for getting round Tesco itself which by now will be far larger than the local cycle path.

[Jac]

Did anyone see the prog on tely last night -

We will soon all be living in the Republic of Tesco

The power big companies have is frightening - they call it democracy

[thirdcrank]

It is called 'The Market'. (Nothing to do with democracy at all.) Sell what people want at a price they are prepared to pay and you have got it cornered. It is said to work almost by magic.

[pliptrot]

As a nation we may pay lip service to good environmental causes and so on, but no one really cares. We talk long and often on "new technology" as a solving environmental issues, but don't even know what that means. For example, the UK is committed to carbon emission reduction, but is currently embarking on major road and airport development schemes (another lane on the M6 is due).

Mass cycling died with the advent of cheap energy and mass ownership of the motor car. It will only return- and with that the resources [and need] for TV advertising- when cheap energy ends, and people are forced to use the bicycle again.

We can look forward to the president of America helping with this, as he is now poised to ruin yet another major oil supplier.

Peter Liptrot

[Penfold]

Did anyone see the prog on tely last night -

We will soon all be living in the Republic of Tesco

The power big companies have is frightening - they call it democracy

I saw that Jac.

Those vouchers that T*sco push to buy sports kit for schools?
How much stuff do you think you need to buy to get enough vouchers for one football?

The TV prog quoted £2500 per football

I believe each computer for schools worked out at over a quarter of a million pounds worth of goods...... per computer!!

Horizon:

Having read you post I have to say I agree with your thoughts.

Lets just hope that 'we' can support our LBS as much as possible. The knowledge they hold can't be replaced.
Look at whats happened with hardware shops, remember the bloke behind the counter in the Brown cowgown with a nipped ciggy behind his earole.
An absolute gem of information and he knew where "the very thing was"
Go to B&Q or Payless and ask the same question, they look at you as if your mad.

Support bike shops

[Terry T]

I never have, and never will, shop at Tesco. That's the wife's department.
OUCH!

[Jac]

TC - it is the market when they stick to selling things but when they move into dictating to polititions - local and national - as the programme showed its undermining any remaining remnants we have of democracy.

I know its not just Tesco.
Businesses and Banks run the world.
They are out to make money - now, with little regard for the future of the planet or any body in it.
Capitalism is the driving force in global warming.

back to the topic - just by chance I saw an add for bikes - Pashley - in next weeks Radio Times. Not quite on the telly but its a start.

[eileithyia]

Only seems to happen during eurosport coverage of cycling events but at least it is not Halfords.

[thirdcrank]

Jac

The key to this can be found in the word 'lobbying' which has two different but blurred meanings:

1/In a pluralist democracy, the number of votes cast for the candidates decides the allocation of seats. The efforts of interest groups through lobbying indicate the depth of feeling on particular subjects and also allow those interest groups to pass on their expertise to decision makers.

2/In our 'democracy' vested interests with enough £££ simply lobby by obtaining the services of retired decision makers as consultants, directors etc. It is said that this is done to obtain their knowledge of the political process etc. The only knowledge such people really offer is which current decision maker to offer the next consutancy/ directorship. (It is often said that British society is relatively free from corruption. It is true, I believe, that you cannot get, say, a driving licence by offering the examiner £££. On the other hand, you can ensure that your company's interests are protected by paying for plenty of advice from retired decision makers. This is, of course, 'perfectly legal, because those likely to benefit have legislated to ensure it is.

[softpedal]

An interesting thought is do ads on tele for bikes feature in countries where cycling is much more a feature of the average population or am much bigger sport? For example holland, france or even china.
Any observations from the well travelled of us.

[reohn2]

Jac

The key to this can be found in the word 'lobbying' which has two different but blurred meanings:

1/In a pluralist democracy, the number of votes cast for the candidates decides the allocation of seats. The efforts of interest groups through lobbying indicate the depth of feeling on particular subjects and also allow those interest groups to pass on their expertise to decision makers.

2/In our 'democracy' vested interests with enough £££ simply lobby by obtaining the services of retired decision makers as consultants, directors etc. It is said that this is done to obtain their knowledge of the political process etc. The only knowledge such people really offer is which current decision maker to offer the next consutancy/ directorship. (It is often said that British society is relatively free from corruption. It is true, I believe, that you cannot get, say, a driving licence by offering the examiner £££. On the other hand, you can ensure that your company's interests are protected by paying for plenty of advice from retired decision makers. This is, of course, 'perfectly legal, because those likely to benefit have legislated to ensure it is.

T/C Are you in'sin'uating that our 'pali'amentary democracy is.is.some how not completely honest and above 'bored' are you sir, saying that members of her majesty's government are,are,(gulp)as it were, cooking the books not playing by the Queensferry rules,doctoring the ball then playing silly mid on,diving in the box,taking legal substances that are really illegal or taking illegal substances then deeming them legal, this isn't the tour de farce,sir.
Surely Mr Blair and his dear wife Cherry(or is it Sherry or Merry) would never allow their ministers to get upto such things, its preposterous.
I,I,can't quite believe it,never, not our fine upstanding politricktians no sir i think you've got hold of the wrong end of raquet/racket on this old chum.
Thinks.....Dear Mr 'Camera'on is a cyclist,a salt of the earth pedal pushing propagater of the graceful mode, he wouldn't, nay couldn't be Conservative party to any shinanigins of an underhanded fascist regeme.
And i'm sure emperor Ming Campbell would run a mile at the very thought of such a thing.
Really T/C really.

[Jac]

R2 - your spelling is worse than mine - or wos this esturry

TC - the second meaning of lobbying corruption for the little people - business for the likes of Tesco -
just about sums up the current state of democracy