Everybody would agree that the bicycle has traveled all the way from being either sports tool or poor person's transportation to becoming a lifestyle, if not even a fashion accessory. And it is interesting to watch and find collateral damage happening on the way.
Last week I surfed the page of
Curitiba Cycle Chic, an excellent source on fashion-related bicycle news and stories. There I found some images of
Benetton's spring 2012 campaign featuring young, beautiful (and a bit meager) people colorfully dressed in Benetton's colorful collection riding bikes, of course. Yet, after a second or so I sensed my bewilderment with this scene. Well, those bikes are nice and painted white, entirely, so the colors come out better. Wait, didn't I see white bikes before somewhere?
Well, yes, the
ghost bikes, installed worldwide to commemorate cyclists who died in traffic, are also white. To me only two explanations appear as logic: (I) The art director (team) of this campaign has no real clue about bicycle culture and uses bicycles because they are hip; (II) The art director (team) of this campaign doesn't give a s*** about bicycle culture on the ground, knows about the ghost bikes and nevertheless uses white bicycles in the shooting for aesthetic purposes. I tend to believe in the first explanation.
Interestingly enough the white bikes give the models something ghost-like. They seem flying atop the ground on heavenly, almost invisible vehicles.
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| Ghost bike in NYC, Brooklyn. |
Nevertheless it is interesting to see that everyday urban culture and commercialized fashion culture can be so far removed from each other. With a small hint for Benetton, I would add that such dis-respect for everyday urban culture - especially related to the ghost bikes which are a symbol of true grief for real (dead) people, and in that sense memorials - can also backfire and create a negative image for the brand. This was the case when
DKNY was using orange bikes locked to NYC light poles in a rather self-embarrassing guerrilla marketing campaign. Attenzione Luciano, the
blogosphere is already picking up on Bentton's ghost bike blooper. .....
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| Ghost bike in NYC, Manhattan. |
So please, dear fashion community, stay more closely interlinked with the communities you're feeding off in terms of inspiration and ideas (or at least hire somebody who does so). Addressing Benetton: please show some respect for the ghost bikes memorials worldwide. For stories about the people for whom the ghost bikes were placed as memorials, please refer to
ghostbikes.org.
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| Two men holding (ghost)bikes in almost critical-mass-ish pose. Benetton spring campaign 2012. Image copyright and source: United Colors of Benetton. |
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