Bank defends advert showing conflict with cyclists as rite of passage for new drivers

AIB Bank has defended a car loan advertisement which was criticised for depicting conflict with cyclists as rites of passage for new drivers.

A spokesperson for AIB wrote: “We thought long and hard about how to balance each of the many scenes the driver experiences in our ad. In the ad, the driver recognises the vulnerability of the cyclist as another road user and apologises to him.”

The Dublin Cycling Campaign said it was “An ill-advised” advert aimed at young drivers.

Responding to AIB this afternoon, the Dublin Cycling Campaign said: “That isn’t really the tone conveyed by the ad’s narrator, and the cyclist is portrayed as an aggressive, confrontational character.”

They added: “Interactions between drivers and cyclists can be a matter of life and death, yet this ad seems to portray them as a minor irritation for drivers.”

On Twitter last night, the campaign said: “It includes a scene depicting an angry encounter with a cyclist clad in pink lycra, suggesting that this is a rite of passage for new drivers. Hey @AskAIB, we need to talk…”

On Twitter others have highlighted how the advert also portrays getting a parking ticket as “bad luck” and amounts to normalising “selfish, illegal driver behaviour.”

The advert can be viewed at http://gaslight.ie/aib-first-loans where the makers include the description: “Had a ball depicting the first year in the life of a guy’s first car. 27 scenes shot in 16 locations over two fast and furious days. And coffee, lots and lots of coffee.”


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7 comments

  1. Trivialising the receipt of a parking FCN as ‘bad luck’ does nothing for the rampant fly-parking in cycle tracks and bus lanes right across the country as can be seen here: freethecyclelanes.vool.ie
    Cycle tracks are a safety feature for people who cycle, such as children trying to get safely to a school, and not an aid to doing business where ‘bad luck’ simply writes the fine off as an ‘normal business expense’.
    Thanks but no thanks AIB!

    Reply
  2. If the ASAI banned an ad showing people cycling in a park with no plastic hats, surely we can get AIB’s yoke banned?

    Oh I forgot, the RSA has secret legal advice saying its actually grand

    Reply
  3. The world has gone mad with political correctness. Have a bit of cop on .I cycle . All it shows to me is first of everything .We as people have become very confrontational in everything we do bar for the right reasons .Lets start living again ,slow down and be curtious to people and this country of ours woild be alot better place to live in .

    Reply
  4. Well, I’m sure it’s no coincidence the driver isn’t getting an earful from a little old lady with a bag of shopping in the basket after nearly running her off the road.

    Also, I assume not pictured. Poor driver has fists shaken at him after he blows through pedestrian crossing because he doesn’t, or doesn’t want to, understand how filter lights work. Poor driver has to do the fixed stare straight ahead at something in the distance while horns blare because he went through a red light (only just red!) on the assumption the traffic in front of him would disappear by magic and he wouldn’t end up blocking the yellow box.

    Reply
    • @dublinstreams yes, but it’s usually council’s designs for cycling routes or the cycling elements of other projects which makes me question my sanity.

      Reply

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