NYC Takes on Rude, Evil Cyclists in New Ads
The New York City Department of Transportation recycles C-list celebs in a public safety campaign that warns miscreant bicycle riders: "Don't be a jerk." The three mildly amusing vignettes featuring Mario Batali, John Leguizamo, and Paulina Porizkova encourage basic urban bicycling behavior, like staying off sidewalks, yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks, and riding with traffic and not against it. Since this is NYC, they should also warn against riding across the hoods of cars stuck in traffic and targeting package-laden pedestrians for sport. (Yes, the campaign ignores the inconvenient fact that drivers are more of a hazard to cyclists than vice versa.) There's some local color when a doofus yelps, "Pawlina, it's a crawsswalk!" (Being from Boston, I know that "Pahlina" and "crahsswahlk" are the correct pronunciations.) Passersby berate the bad cyclists jerks, and some viewers have apparently taken offense, blasting the ads for promoting insult speech. Puh-lease. This is New Yawk. I got your indignation right here.
- Buzzfeed's Michael Hastings Dead at 33
- iCrossing Hires Moxie And Razorfish Vets
- FCC Chairman Nominee Says Broadband Is Top Priority
- Viacom Finishes Major Upfront Biz
- Condé Nast Swaps Lucky Editor
- YouTube's Wigs Headed to Hulu
- Agency.com Co-founder Joins Prophet
- FCC Nominee Chair Plays Up His Business Experience
- Rapture-Palooza Star Anna Kendrick Is Addicted to Reddit
- Maxipad Brand Goes for Blood in Brilliant Reply to Facebook Rant
- Ogilvy Adds Two More Grand Prix—in Outdoor and Media
- DM9 Jayme Syfu Wins Mobile Grand Prix for Turning Cellphones Into Textbooks
- Barbarian Group Wins Inaugural Innovation Lions Grand Prix for Its Cinder Coding Platform
- Pretty Much Everyone Is Doing Native Ads Now
- Gay Advertising’s Long March Out of the Closet
- Kraft Salad Dressing Ad Gets Best Present Ever: A Slap From One Million Moms
AdFreak is your daily blog of the best and worst of creativity in advertising, media, marketing and design. Follow us as we celebrate (and skewer) the latest, greatest, quirkiest and freakiest commercials, promos, trailers, posters, billboards, logos and package designs around. Edited by Adweek's Tim Nudd. Updated every weekday, with a weekly recap on Saturdays.


Email
Print







