Promoting Cycling in Style from Holland

Thanks to Ted in Seattle for this fantastic link. Nine adverts promoting cycling from Holland.

The films were made by students at the National Film School in Holland and while three of them are a bit lame, if you ask me [the singing girl and the terrorist spring to mind], most are quite brilliant.

As many of you know, there is no helmet usage in Holland. The official statistics are 0,1% of adults using helmets and 5% of children. The Dutch government and the cyclists' union have both declared that they will not promote helmets since it will cause a fall in cyclists. They've done their research. Nice to see.

Dutch is a relative to Danish, so I've tried to translate as best as I can.

01: A cool music video.
Tagline at the end: "If siting on a bicycle is like this... we do we sit in traffic jams?" "Ride your bike to work. It's a good cause."

02: Three Men in an Elevator
I'm guessing the voice is saying something like "The owner of such and such car... your car is being towed" and then the same for the next car with the Lotus.
Tagline: "Don't like inconvienences? Take your bike!"

03: Singing Girl
Whatever. It's probably poignant and fantastic if you understand Dutch.
Tagline: "Everybody on bikes - you'll sit well."

04: The Terrorist
Whatever. It is a little too film schooly for my taste.

05: Men in Suits Racing
This is brilliant. This is Europe. Men in suits racing to work. Funny and cool.
Tagline: Ride to work. Make a sport of it.

06: Carpooling
Funny and relevant. Irritated guy waiting for his friend to give him a lift. He's late. On the phone he says "Now!".
His friend comes out with a CD and says he has a great driving album.
Tagline/speak: No idea. :-)

07: "Car addiction is an underestimated problem"
This is just brilliant. The therapist shows him the ink spots and asks, "What do you see?" The man answers, "Auto".
The therapist talks about the first phase of rehabilition and then the second phase. Then the man is ready to go it alone. "Car addiction is an underestimated problem."
I can't get the last sentence but it's cool that the man has a car and it's not totally preachy.

08: BMX in Traffic
Speaks for itself.

09: Mafia
Another classic one. The mafia guy asks, I believe, "How did you get here today?" The guy in white replies, "By bike". Mafia guy translates into Italian for his friend and they laugh.
Tagline: Cyclists live longer.


Copenhagen Cycle Chic and Copenhagenize.com will be present at the world's largest bike fair - Eurobike - from 4-7 september. Our good friends at Velorbis have offered to let us have a 4 x 2.5 m banner hanging at their stand. And I've whipped up a little flyer, above, for people to take with them when they visit the stand.

I figured that it's an industry event so there will be an ocean of lycra, 'gear' and non-stop sports oriented angles so the text on the flyer merely reads:

"Our cycling legends dress differently than your cycling legends".

It's a cultural reference to the vast number of women who ride bicycles in Copenhagen - roughly 50% of all cyclists - and a historical reference to the iconic figure of the Cycling Girl [cykelpigen] which is such an integral part of Danish culture and which has been since the bicycle first became popular at the end of the 1800's.

We have a tag over at Copenhagen Cycle Chic about The Cycling Girl as Part of Danish Culture.

Cykelhjelm, cykelhjelme, danmark, holland