WA Road Safety Commission "Cycling is for Loosers" Campaign

[AUbicycles]

Havn't seen this elsewhere however this had gone really fast as I wasn't paying attention to social media.

In brief, the Western Australian Government and their Road Safety Commission released a campaign with adverts showing bike riding as the punishment for people who have lost their drivers license speeding. The rider is portrayed as the looser who has to ride his little green bike and suffer the scorn of others.



There was a pretty fast backlash and the adverts removed by Road Safety Minister Michelle Roberts.

I did not see them before they went live and as soon as concerns were raised with me, I acted swiftly to have them taken down," she said.

I approved the Road Safety Commission to develop a campaign addressing driver's risk taking behaviour and specifically requested further detail.

This did not happen.

It would have desirable for a campaign that costs tax-payers money to be properly reviewed during and following production


Stephen Hodge of We Ride Australia (which is new and is the public name for the Cycling Promotion Foundation) also has a commented

"But when we see the latest road safety campaign from the Western Australian Road Safety Commission, we are incredibly disappointed with the content that portrays the choice to ride a bike as social suicide, ridiculous and the choice of no one if they have an option to drive a car," he said.

"It's hard to fathom that in all three campaign videos released online, the focus is on a single mode of transport as a form of punishment, reinforcing negative, entrenched pre-conceptions and myths around people who choose to ride bikes."

"Sadly, the campaign only tells the people of WA an inaccurate, negative and ridiculous story of why only 'losers' ride a bike."

All happened fairly quickly - a real shame for the wasted money which could have been spent on a clever or smarter message.

Here is an article:
http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/cycli ... 0w82c.html

[Top_Bhoy]

It would have desirable for a campaign that costs tax-payers money to be properly reviewed during and following production

It would have desirable for a campaign that costs tax-payers money to be properly reviewed during and following production

A proper review prior to committing production funds and awarding contracts would have been a better start.

This is a bug bear of mine because the cost blow-out significantly increases exponentially the deeper into a project you go.

As an example (Noting the below graph is for software, the concept remains.):


Sadly all too often, paying due diligence is a mythical concept for many managers to grasp and financial wastage is common.

[AdelaidePeter]

Dozens of people must have been involved in making this ad. Didn't anyone, at any stage, say "This is a really stupid idea" ?

[human909]

It was a great idea.
-Targets intended audience
-Is not offensive to racial/religious/ethnic/gender groups.

From the closetted view of majority of Australians it is a great set of advertisements. I think most of us can relate to the shock-horror that somebody would choose to ride a bicycle as a means of transport.


Sadly the road safety commission isn't looking outside their own bubble of roads are for cars and transport is cars.

[g-boaf]

It might have been better if the script/concept was reviewed prior to actors being hired, locations being scoped out and film crews being hired, along with all the rest of the people needed. Would have saved a lot of money.

I suspect the only reason the advert was pulled was because it caused uproar, rather than any good common sense.

[uart]

It was a great idea.
-Targets intended audience
-Is not offensive to racial/religious/ethnic/gender groups.

From the closetted view of majority of Australians it is a great set of advertisements. I think most of us can relate to the shock-horror that somebody would choose to ride a bicycle as a means of transport.


Sadly the road safety commission isn't looking outside their own bubble of roads are for cars and transport is cars.

Yes, can you imagine them doing something like this:

Cam got caught speeding one time too many. Now he has to ride the bus, along with all the other "subbies". (video shows a bus carrying disabled children passing Cam at the bus stop).

Yeah, no one would have had an issue with that would they. Perhaps I should pitch that one to the WA Road Safety Commission. I might just get some payment for the idea.

[Mububban]

Well, Gumtree IS full of ads for ebikes and 2 stroke frankenbikes with description "selling my bike, finally got my license back"

[human909]

I have little doubt that the advertisements would be effective to some of the target market to have a small rethink.

The problem is the WA Road Safety Commission themselves need and education and rethink. To simplify the problem as 'speeding' or 'hooning' is missing the big picture. The big picture is a culture that is based entirely around the car is king. Start moving away from that and we will improve road safety.

Instead the WA Road Safety Commission is entrenching the problem.