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Dahon California Inc. Files Formal Complaint
to the UK Advertising Standards Authority Over Smirnoff Ice/
Diageo Ad Campaign
LONDON, England — August 15, 2003 — Dahon
California, Inc. the world's leading manufacturer of folding
bicycles, today announced the formal filing of a complaint to
the UK Advertising Standards Authority over a Smirnoff Ice/Diageo
advertisement. The ad campaign resembles a recycling campaign
(as if produced by the Aluminium Marketing Board) and uses an
image of a Dahon folding bike to show what kind of products
aluminium is wasted on, when it could be made into cans filled
with a certain alcopop. Tick boxes on the ad indicate which
products use aluminium sensibly (such as cans of Smirnoff Ice)
and which are a waste, including an aluminum Dahon folding bicycle.
Dahon will request that Diageo withdraw the ads and issue an
apology for denigrating bicycles generally and Dahon and folding
bicycles specifically. Joshua Hon, Dahon VP Sales & Marketing
explains, "The ads were a pretty big shock - Diageo and
their ad agency TWH are incomprehensibly implying that Smirnoff
alcopop - with a disposable can that goes immediately into a
landfill - is a better use of aluminium than a bicycle - a healthy
and non-polluting form of transportation."
"But even more insulting is that by using a Dahon folding
bike for this ad, Diageo also discredits our company and the
whole bike industry, since just about every bicycle made uses
aluminum components and/or an aluminium frame. As a company
dedicated to promoting environmental responsibility and clean
forms of transportation, we feel that this ad campaign causes
material harm to our brand and image. Our US legal office is
investigating the case and we reserve the right to take further
legal action should Diageo not immediately withdraw the ad."
Mark Bickerton, president of Cyclemotion and the exclusive distributor
of Dahon in the UK added, "If you consider that London
Mayor Ken Livingstone initiated a London congestion charge earlier
this year to help boost bicycle usage, and that this program
has been almost universally hailed as a success, Diageo's campaign
against bicycles becomes even more bizarre."
"I'd say that Diageo's ad guys had a bit too much Smirnoff
Ice to drink when they came up with the campaign but I'm not
sure that Ice is strong enough for them to use it as an excuse,"
concluded Hon.
News of the ad campaign was first reported to the bicycle industry
by bikebiz.co.uk, the UK's leading industry magazine and webzine.
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