German Cycling Safety Ad Called Out For Being “Embarrassing, Stupid and Sexist”

German Cycling Safety Ad Called Out For Being “Embarrassing, Stupid and Sexist”

A cycling safety ad created by Germany’s transport ministry has sparked an outcry of sexism after it featured a model wearing just a helmet and underwear.

The ad, which features a contestant from Germany’s Next Top Model along with the slogan “Looks like shit. But saves my life” has the women’s wing of junior coalition partners SPD demanding it not go live on billboards.

The campaign has been mocked on social media, with one user posting it’s Germany’s bicycle infrastructure that “#lookslikeshit”.

SPD’s women’s wing chairwoman Maria Noichl told Bild am Sonntag: “It is embarrassing, stupid and sexist for the transport minister to be selling his policies using naked skin.”Screen Shot 2019-03-25 at 9.59.32 am

Family minister Franziska Giffey also lambasted Germany’s transport minister Andreas Scheuer of the conservative CSU party.

Giffey posted a photo of herself on Facebook dressed in business clothes with her bicycle, writing: “Dear Andreas Scheuer: fully dressed also goes well with a helmet!”




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    1. Thanks to B&T for sharing this story. Unless we educate our industry this stuff keeps happening. Firstly, a disruptive idea doesn’t have to polarise or be perpetuating poor stereotypes. There are plenty of successful road safety campaigns out there and they all have clothes on appropriately. This is likely the creative teams’ unconscious bias sneaking out into the community and they need re-educating. The minister is just trying to justify a poor decision and their own lack of awareness to let it by, too. That response is a very poor show. If they’d have acknowledged the offence (which is valid) and done something to change it they could have manage to avoid brand damage. Sadly, that is not the case when people are ignorant and don’t take responsibility for the impact we have on society.

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