| 08/15/2003 | Dahon California, Inc. 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.
www.dahon.com
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