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On a recent flight I happened upon a copy of Bicycling Magazine. I was stoked when I found that the feature article was on Critical Mass. Critical Mass is all about raising awareness of alternative means of transportation that do not involve the burning of fossil fuels.
Overall it was a great article but the editor kind of threw a wrench into the whole thing. Here is the cover . . .
Here is the start of the article . . .
And look what advertisement is right smack dab in the middle of the article!
Irony at its finest.
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Filed Under: culture
3 comments for this entry ↓
1 Ryan // Feb 12, 2008 at 7:25 am
I’m not making excuses for Rodale (the company who owns Bicycling) but I can tell you that the reason there is a car ad in the middle of an article about bicycle awareness is the almighty dollar.
Bicycling does not make much money at all from you purchasing a copy of the magazine at the news stand at your local airport. The lions share of the cover price goes to the store, and to the company that delivers the magazines (mostly a company called Prologix). Bicycling makes its money from selling advertisements. If Nissan had the deepest pockets when they were selling the ad space in the middle of the feature story, thats who’s ad got put there. It isn’t a slam against car-free culture, it’s just good business sense for the publisher.
The article on the other hand is very derogatory toward Mass rides. Hyping them as lawless and violent is not an accurate reflection of MOST mass rides.
I recieve Bicycling for free as a perk of my job but I rarely read it because I do not agree with a lot of their content. It is a fantastic publication if $7,000 road bikes and doping scandals are your thing, otherwise they offer very little content that ‘average joe cyclist’ might be interested in. You can write to the editor and let him know, but since ‘mass riders’ are not their target demographic I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for an appology.
I should mention that although I do work in the magazine industry, I have no control over the content for this or any other magazine.
2 tp // Feb 12, 2008 at 9:14 am
The ad may actually be in a very good spot. It may even stir up some critical thoughts in some readers. As in “if that ad depicts true automotive transportation with deserted streets, ample parking and fast paced bliss, why do we need critical mass?”
3 FixedXorBroken // Feb 12, 2008 at 10:21 am
Nice post.
Ryan’s right, Bicycling is a joke magazine. You should (if you haven’t already) check out Momentum.
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