Would you ride a bike to work? What about a DKNY bike?
Neon orange bikes, like the one pictured above, will be sprinkled around New York City courtesy of DKNY next week. The company partnered up with the city’s Department of Transportation for this pro-environment campaign that aims to promote bike riding.
The non-gas guzzling modes of transportation will be chained up at bike stations in various city neighborhoods.
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LOVE the idea, hate the bike. Who really wants to be seen on the silly orange bike. It looks like it doesn’t have any gears, if so, is that the most practical bike for the city?
Karen. It is simply an advertising campaign. The bikes that will be seen around the city are not the bikes that you should ride around Manhattan, but simply the image of a bike should help provide New Yorkers with a fresh idea about how to get around. LOVE the bike. Hate your comment.
Thanks for giving me something to do.
2 thumbs up DKNY
Perhaps it could be considered commendable that a clothing company and the City DOT would launch a pro-environmental marketing campaign about cycling. That said, there are those of us in the cycling community who saw these orange bikes, emblazoned with corporate logos, and viewed them as an insulting advertising riff on ghostbikes (http://www.ghostbikes.org/new-york-city). Ghost bikes are memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque.
I imagine that I will be viewed as overly touchy about this, but as an avid cyclist who has lost friends to car accidents, I find this marketing ploy quite insensitive.
No one mentions that the campaign is clearly a corporate rip-off of “GHOST BIKES”, which are painted white, and then placed by the cycling community to memorialize cyclists killed by motor vehicles. Flowers and messages and the bikes themselves are respected by the public and city agencies. Most of the DKNY bikes have already been trashed. People can tell this is BS. It’s shameless co-option of an important grass roots movement. And it disrespects the victims of motor vehicles and their loved ones.
yes
TWO THUMB SHIFTERS UP for DKNY
pictures of hot girls and pro bicycle!
that is my type of company
dig it
if they’re sincere about promoting bicycling that’s one thing. but these are a little too close to the ghost bikes for comfort, and seem a little tastless on that account.
oops! link should be to ghost bikes.
This campaign is an abomination. DKNY has been locking these along NYC streets in a manner that clearly mimics the white-painted “Ghost Bike” memorials–a solemn art form created by activists to honor cyclists who have been killed on the street. (http://www.ghostbike.org/) Next to grave-robbing, you can’t go much lower to grub money.
Very unacceptable and detrimental to the NYC cycling community. This stands to jeopardize the ghost bike memorials.
http://gothamist.com/2008/02/03/guerilla_market.php
Don’t buy DKNY clothing.
see a bike?
paint it white.
don’t let advertising become viral. the only painted bikes should be ghost bikes.
Seems like it was a bad idea after all. I agree that it’s not an original campaign and it brings somewhat damage to the ghostbikes initiative. Dkny marketing team should have done some research before starting all this.
I saw one of these yesterday! it isnt quite as chic as it looks in that picture though, because the neon orange spray paint was crusting off and left little flecks of dried paint all over the sidewalk. cute idea though
While also disgusted by the similarity to the ghost bikes, I’m attempting to see both sides of this issue. I wonder if they were aware of the ghost bikes before launching this campaign? While more encouragement to ride bikes is good, this does seem more like a tatesless ad campaign.
And abt DKNY being “pro-environment”? If they’re serious about that, they can start where they are, with making clothes. I searched their site for “organic”, “organic cotton”, and “hemp”, and found nothing. In all fairness, DK does fundraising for charitable causes. It would make sense to include the environment among those causes (esp. as pollution is related to reproductive cancers, and ovarian cancer is one of DK’s fundraising focuses).
So, DKNY, thank you for your concern about the planet and this car crowded, choking city. Give the people who look to you to tell them what to wear real information on bikes, cars, pollution, climate change. **Advocate for and help fund safe, buffered bike lanes.** Use organic cotton / reclaimed fibers / hemp in your clothing.
And please, even if it wasn’t intentional, please don’t mock the ghost bikes, they are serious memorials.