http://districtcotton.com/blog/2008/02/06/this-is-just-plain-stupid-inaugural-fashionable-green-wash-posting/ News & reviews on socially conscious garb Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:46:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 http://districtcotton.com/blog/2008/02/06/this-is-just-plain-stupid-inaugural-fashionable-green-wash-posting/#comment-2 Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:07:38 +0000 http://districtcotton.com/blog/2008/02/06/this-is-just-plain-stupid-inaugural-fashionable-green-wash-posting/#comment-2 Perhaps it could be considered commendable that a clothing company and the City DOT would launch a pro-environmental marketing campaign about cycling. That said, there are those of us in the cycling community who saw these orange bikes, emblazoned with corporate logos, and viewed them as an insulting advertising riff on ghostbikes (http://www.ghostbikes.org/new-york-city). Ghost bikes are memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque. I imagine that I will be viewed as overly touchy about this, but as an avid cyclist who has lost friends to car accidents, I find this marketing ploy quite insensitive. Perhaps it could be considered commendable that a clothing company and the City DOT would launch a pro-environmental marketing campaign about cycling. That said, there are those of us in the cycling community who saw these orange bikes, emblazoned with corporate logos, and viewed them as an insulting advertising riff on ghostbikes (http://www.ghostbikes.org/new-york-city). Ghost bikes are memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque.
I imagine that I will be viewed as overly touchy about this, but as an avid cyclist who has lost friends to car accidents, I find this marketing ploy quite insensitive.

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