Advertising, Bikes, and Conflicting Attitudes

Just saw a Bank of America commercial talking, I think, about how banking with them leads to rewards that follow you or something like that. And, the reward that was chosen to follow the guy/customer was a very nice red compact road bike. If you think about it, bikes and cyclists of all sorts, from casual riders to serious bike weenies are depicted in commercials for all kinds of products from banks to insurance and investments to drugs to treat ED. It's so ironic, isn't it, that these images are used to depict a healthy and wholesome lifestyle, but the general public, the government, nearly everyone it seems are always so ready to marginalize, condemn, discriminate against cyclists on the roadways and streets all over this country.

Motorists can hit, maim, or even kill cyclists due to carelessness or sometimes, with genuine intent and get away with it. Like the drunk guy driving a van who hit, from behind, my cousin's brilliant son, a Purdue graduate with an engineering degree who scored perfect SAT math scores twice and fled the scene of the accident. He came within minutes of bleeding to death, every rib on one side broken, a lung pierced and collapsed.

But, when we need a symbol of something wholesome, healthy, simple, we use the bicycle and its riders as the penultimate symbol.

I can tell you one big reason why bicycles and their riders are depicted in ads and commercials. Did you know that of all individual sports in America, cycling has the highest median household income, beating out skiing and golf? In 2000, that meant a median household income of about $74,000. On the flip side, bike shopowners average about $40,000. Serious cyclists, you know, the ones you see on titanium or carbon fiber bikes that can exceed $10,000 and wearing spandex tend to hold at least undergraduate college degrees, in engineering, computer science, finance, etc.

I'm just curious. Why do so many people react in such a strong and negative way toward people on bikes? Is it because they're envious of everything they represent in terms of freedom, healthy, and just pure fun? Because, after all, we ride bikes because, besides getting us from point a to point b and sometimes, back to point a, it lets us be 12 years old again and again.

What do you have to say about this oxymoronic attitude toward bikes and cyclists? You do not get to say cyclists slow down traffic. I know for a fact, as I am a cyclist, that is not true. You do not get to say cyclists don't pay attention to what's going on around them, because we *have* to be so aware since no one else takes responsibility or gives consideration.

So, what's the problem anyway?