A few weeks ago, IMAble got a little miffed at the Pearl Izumi ads. I just got done being just as mad. Opened up my Runner's World and saw the latest (I hadn't bothered to go out to their site and see the whole campaign yet -- I'd link but I don't want to drive any traffic to them) and it just pissed me off again. Twice.
Joggers mostly stick to gentrified stretches of pedestrian walkways, where they can exchange greetings with in-line skaters or purchase a snow-cone if the fancy strike them.
WTF?? First of all, in-line skaters are freakin' athletes too. I've spent more than a fair share of time around those folks, if you haven't figured out by my blog name. For the better part of four years I spent 3-6 days a week at the roller rink and out at the dam with the inline speed skaters as they went ridiculous speeds with nothing protecting them but a helmet. The fastest of them went around a 100-meter track in about 7 seconds. And I think one or two of them have found some success on ice as Olympic Gold medalists. So leave the inline skaters out of it, m'kay?? The one and only time I tried it I ended up on my ass on the hardwood.
But, that's to be expected, isn't it? Since according to PI, I'm not even a runner since I'm slow? I might at any moment be seized by the need to stop and buy a freakin' snow cone (2nd thing to hack me off). Last I checked, the snow cone stands weren't open at 6:00 am on a Sunday when I'm doing a long run, oh, sorry, JOG, as I am training for a marathon.
My husband is in advertising and has been for 15 years. I know what goes into the planning and execution of an ad campaign. There was thought and debate about this at several stages within the company and the ad agency; if there wasn't there should have been. But I think they knew what they were doing and thought it might get publicity with the controversy. But the true goal of a good company shouldn't be to alienate a large segment of the consumer base they're going after. If they dont' care about that, then I dont' care about them.
I am not an elite runner. Never will be. According to them, I'm not even a runner. And never will be. Well, bite me, PI. I'm off to buy a new pair of shoes -- my old ones have 500 miles on them. 500 miles of jogging since the first of January. But I guess someone else will have to sell me my new jogging shoes, since I sure as shit aint buying yours.
3 comments:
Yeah! love this post! They really are alienating buyers. I never bought PI runner stuff, but have bought their cycling gear, but I am BOYCOTTING them now.
What the advertisers need to realize is the average person is who they should be catering to, and most of us are average! They certainly can't make a company profit with just the elites or pros. If it weren't for all of us average people, they would be out of business. I can only imagine the snobbish attitudes putting that ad together. And those people probably don't even "JOG."
Wow, I never heard about this. Very frustrating indeed.
Re: roller bladers - thanks for your insight. I get really annoyed with them always hogging the running paths. I'm also jealous that they are always little pixies in crop tops and short shorts. But that's a whole other tale.
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