It is a rare day when anyone gets the matters which concern us all here quite as wrong as our friends from Bosch have it here. (One of a series of particularly egregious advertising abuses on the part of certain old mobility purveyors who just do not seem to be able to resist the temptation.)
From: Rutul Joshi, CEPT University, Ahmedabad
Sent: Sunday, 15 November, 2009 10:09
Subject: Bosch Horn commercial
A few days ago some enthusiasts in Ahmedabad initiated the 'no honking day' in the city. While some people are trying hard to make such initiatives a success, the TV commercials preach something else all together. 
This TV commercial 'promotes' honking as a powerful way to ease 'congestion'! From start to the end - this commercial has all the possible wrong elements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnzJFp6tfKU
A majority of the roads in metro cities in India have noise pollution levels above 80 decibels. Shouldn't such commercials be banned?
Rutul Joshi,
Lecturer, Faculty of Planning and Public Policy,
CEPT University, Ahmedabad - 380 009.
Contact: +91-79-26302470-134(ext.) Mob: +91-99240 76451
www.spcept.ac.in
# # #
In truth we take little pleasure to point the finger at someone like Bosch who are, who should definitely be, 
part of the solution to sustainable transport with their world level technology skills and industrial base.
But there are times when only your best friends will tell you. So, ahem! Dear Bosch. Don't you really think . . . ?
The editor
PS. And I am pretty sure that there is someone back at Bosch headquarters in Stuttgart who is not at all happy about this.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Honk! Quite incredible they would fall for this.
(More on anti-social advertising in old mobility)
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Ironically, the humor newspaper _The Onion_ did a fake tv news story on the value of honking last year.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theonion.com/content/video/tired_of_traffic_a_new_dot_report
Richard Layman, Washington DC
I agree with Sunny, Madhav and Sujit.
ReplyDeleteLet me draw your attention to the voice overs when the 'helpless woman' is stuck in front of 'the mob(!)'. The voice over says, "I am not afraid of obstacles" and the male voice, " zero compromise horns from Bosch...when there is no compromise, there is no fear!" She blows horn because she is not afraid of 'obstacles'! It is an outright pro-honking commercial which aggressively potrays the priority of car-users over the pedestrians. I do not think that anyone can legitimize it by using the 'helpless woman' card. What is zero-compromise horns, btw? And what is this portrayal of 'no fear, no obstacles' philosophy here?
One can also not buy the argument that horns are like all other approved auto products with high environmental standards. Everything fixed on a motorized vehicle may be 'approved' but not necessarily harmless. It is always the thousand horns blowing at a time, which make life miserable in cities.
Finally, it is never about one commercial or this commercial per say. but is always about how 'just' are we. We understand that advertisers have to exaggerate things but we also bane cigarette commercials. Personally, I think horn commercials are as contagious, powerful and anti-social as cigarette commercials and they should be banned. There are also double standards here on the company's part. Would they have the same commercial in their European market?
best,
Rutul.
PS: As an awareness campaign, I would borrow Madhav's idea. One day, all the pedestrians in the city should move around with horns! Would they out-number the car horns?
I was looking up advert standards in the UK and realised that this Mitsubishi Colt advert shown on Greek TV
ReplyDeletewww. youtube.com/watch?v=ZeKtylqoh0s (Mark Lobjoit posted it on the New Mobility Cafe list earlier in the week) would very likely not be illegal in the UK because a - It is not reality pictured, but a fantasy
land and b - the speed limit referred to is "100" but it is not explicitly kph or mph.... . (This advert was very expensive so I assume
it was not done just for many European markets -- the ending text is
"While Speedville is a fantasy, the Mitsubishi Colt is real". I am actually not sure if car* adverts produced for the UK or Ireland are
used in mainland Europe because of different driving position).
ASA code
"11.9.1 Rules for all advertising
No advertisement may encourage or condone dangerous, inconsiderate or irresponsible driving or motorcycling
Note:
This does not prevent flamboyant driving in scenes which are clearly fantasy or ‘theatrical’ so that the action is distanced from reality (eg scenes of driving mayhem in trailers for action films).
11.9.2 Automotive advertising
Advertisements for cars, motorbikes or other automotive products must not:
a) encourage or condone fast or irresponsible driving nor
b) refer to speeds over 70mph nor..."
http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/codes/tv_code/tv_codes/Section+11+-+Other+Categories+N\ew.htm
Todd Edelman, Berlin DE