. . . are driving me crazy! Sitting here like sloth personified, unable to even ride on the trainer, and having to watch footage of LA’s strong, driving bike riding reminds me of the fact that I am losing my own bike and run legs slowly but steadily… Ugh!
Ok, pity party over.
I think those commercials are horrendous. The only thing they inspire me to do is flip the channel. What a waste of Lance.
What!? Are the Buick commercials with Tiger Woods better? The fact that Lance has his own set of commercials is great for cycling and our sport in general. They aren’t going to win any Oscars for the acting, but it’s still great to see Lance on more than just OLN for 3 weeks a year!
We always complain that our sports don’t get enough publicity and credit in mainstream America so let’s embrace a company that is putting some cash into our sport and making Lance more of a household name. Let’s face it…we’ll all be sorry when he finally retires - who are we going to have that is as recognizable as him? Tyler and George? Maybe to folks who can pick Bob Roll out of crowd - but certainly not the average American.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don’t mind Lance endorsing Subaru, I’m just commenting on how they used them. INHO, the commercials suck. Not Lance’s performance. Not Lance’s acting. The commercials are poorly produced, written… they suck. That’s it.
As for your comment about making Lance more of a household name, I think he’s already got that covered. Did you notice that his book was on the NY Times best seller list for like 6 months and was SIs Sportsman of the year?
As for the Buick commercials with Tiger, I might agree that they’re not much better.
Well man I wish you a speedy recovery. I broke my leg a few years back and have a decent idea about how you feel. Before you know it you will be back.
I had enough of everything. My wife got enough of me also. She walked in from work looked at me (unshaven, laid out on the sofa, magazines and newspapers every where) and flat out told me “I had enough of you, when will you be able to walk” Sympathy only last a few hours in my house.
Good luck, try to do as much different stuff as possible
I can’t wait for the tour to start on OLN. I still have that stupid Lincoln Navigator song stuck in my head from last year. They need to put a limit on the spot buy frequency a just plain common decency!
My mute button is worn out!
I second that motion, M.S.!
As a Subaru owner, I like the Lance ads, but nothing compares to the good old days when Crocodile Dundee was the pitch man!
Triathlete Magazine ran a cover article a few months ago about Chris Lieto. In it, he said he had just filmed “a Subaru ad with Lance Armstrong.” Anyone know which ad has Lieto in it?
“The fact that Lance has his own set of commercials is great for cycling and our sport in general.”
The commercials are certainly great for Lance Armstrong’s bank account, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say they are great for the sport. Just because Joe-sixpack sees a Subaru commercial doesn’t mean he’s going to be any more careful driving around cyclists. Nor does it mean that Senator Pollsalot is going to be any more likely to endorse transportation reforms that get people out of their cars and onto their bikes.
If Subaru really wants to help the sport they could divert that same million bucks to Bikes Belong instead of Mr. Armstrong.
The mere fact that a cyclist is endorsing anything on television means the sport is gaining more exposure and acceptance. Yes, it is good for the sport.
And I’d rather watch lance ride around in his Subaru 1000 times than see that White’s Metal Detector ad where the tubby fella with a mustache holds up the gold-plated Zirconia POS he found after putzing around a local park for three weeks listening for lost “treasure.”
LOL! The guy in the metal detector ad is pretty damn proud of himself, isn’t he?
Do you really think Subaru cares about what it’s doing for cyclists or the sport? They’re working to cultivate an image of their vehicles as the choice of active young to middle age adults with decent jobs and lots of crap to haul around.
In other words, people like you and me. So in as much as the Outback helps me get from race to race with my gear, then, yeah, I guess they ARE doing something for the sport… They must be doing something right, as I see plenty of new Subarus on the road. But I don’t see why some people see the need to attach great social significance to good marketing.
Incidentially, it’s a terrific vehicle.
The mere fact that a cyclist is endorsing anything on television means the sport is gaining more exposure and acceptance. Yes, it is good for the sport.<<
And, in the Bay Area, there is a radio ad for one of the cell phone companies (Verizon, I think) in which the guy says he’s a triathlete (or some such thing). I listen to the radio all day at work and I was a little surprised when I first heard the ad. But then, this same radio station did have a little blurb about the Wildflower Triathon Festival and a sound-bite with Tim DeBoom the week prior to WF.
I like the ads too. Just seeing Lance’s face inspires me, and as corny as it sounds, the whole “it’s what’s inside that counts” slogan has been a great motivator for me. (Especially in the wind!)
“The mere fact that a cyclist is endorsing anything on television means the sport is gaining more exposure and acceptance.”
I see a lot of ads with pro basketball players in them these days from And-1, Reebok, Nike, and McDonalds. Yet NBA playoff viewer ratings were the lowest they have been in years. Don’t kid yourself - the ads are all just about marketing. It’s all about cultivating an image. Not about promoting a sport.
Personally, I was more inclined to buy a WRX BEFORE I saw the commercial. Now I know that X% of my purchase price will be going to a guy that I don’t particularly like and already has more money than he know what to do with.
P.S. The most ironic thing about the commercial is that Subaru also has anti-large SUV commercials. The last I heard Armstrong actually drives a Tahoe.
"Don’t kid yourself - the ads are all just about marketing. It’s all about cultivating an image. Not about promoting a sport. "
I think you’re missing the point here. Regardless of their message (buy our car, it’s really cool), the medium that they are using to promote it (a professional cyclist) is what prompted me to assert that cycling is gaining more exposure and as a result more acceptance. We all know that ads are for selling stuff to consumers. In having Lance Armstrong on their commercials, Subaru is using a guy that appeals to a specific demographic: 30+ Yuppies who like the outdoors.
The side effect is that eyeballs of the nation used to seeing Kurt Warner, Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan schilling products are now seeing a cyclist performing the same duties. Call it subliminal, call it a tertiary effect, but I stand by my previous statement that an ad with a cyclist as the endorser does raise the awareness of the sport in the eyes of the public viewing the ad.
“I see a lot of ads with pro basketball players in them these days from And-1, Reebok, Nike, and McDonalds. Yet NBA playoff viewer ratings were the lowest they have been in years.”
It could also be argued that basketball players endorsing products only serves to maintain the NBA’s already lofty presence among television viewers. Cycling is now where the NBA was when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird first arrived on the scene. Under appreciated and under exploited.
Pro Basketball’s presence among the American public has since reached a saturation point. And in the absence of a Jordan-esque (or Armstrong-esque) figure who transcends the sport, a superstar-less NBA Finals is going to be prone to viewership fluctuations.
I completely agree w/ your point of view. The whole “Damn the corporations - they’re not sincere” is a different arguement entirely. I love seeing Lance on the tube, and he deserves the endorsement. I have a question though: How does one “not like” a guy like Lance Armstrong? He gets a death sentence, won’t accept it and instead decides to win the tour 3 times?
If he’s arrogant, he’s got a right to be. BTW, if my memory from the book serves, all but 1 of his sponsors (Nike?) bolted when he was sick. They “random” drug tested him daily during his first Tour after the cancer, because no one believed he could pull it off. Go Lance go. If I was in the market, I might buy a Subaru partly due to Lance’s affiliation - Tahoe driver or not.
Who cares what LA drives! If the guy wants to drive a tahoe and do subaru commercials what difference does it make to us. I admire Lance because of his ability to suffer on a bike not because he promotes enviromentally friendly cars. He is doing the commercial to make money, not because he thinks subaru’s are the greatest cars ever made. And further more Subaru does not care what he really drives as long as he does the commercial. Anyway, LA is from Texas - no self respecting Texan actually drives a subaru
lol!
{BTW, if my memory from the book serves, all but 1 of his sponsors (Nike?) bolted when he was sick.}
Oakley stood by him as well if memory serves.