A commercial for an electric bicycle has been banned by France’s advertising watchdog on the grounds that it denigrates the motor industry.
Van Moof, a Dutch maker of e-bikes, has been told by the Authority for the Professional Regulation of Advertising (ARPP), that its video breaches the prohibition of inciting “fear or suffering”.
The advert shows a shiny black sports car with jarring reflections on its coachwork of factory chimneys, emergency vehicles and traffic jams.
The car melts away to turn into the Dutch company’s latest e-bike with the slogan “Time to ride the future”.
The ARPP told the company that “some shots in the reflections on the car appear, in our view, disproportionate and especially discredit the automobile sector . . . while creating a climate of anxiety”. Van Moof accused the authority of acting to protect France’s big motor industry at a time when it is under pressure from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Van Moof swiftly publicised the ban, scoring an international PR victory.
Taco Carlier, co-founder of the company, said: “We were always aware that this commercial isn’t your usual bike ad. Questioning the status quo will always be confrontational, but that was our purpose from the start.” The firm will not follow the watchdog’s suggestion to modify its video.
Stéphane Martin, head of the authority, rejected the criticism and noted that the body was independent of the state. “It’s an old ploy — attacking our independence and trying to score free media coverage while shouting ‘censorship’,” he said.
“That commercial goes too far, with images . . . such as the smoke from factory chimneys, which have nothing to do with the car industry.”
President Macron has this week recast himself as protector of the environment. He promised to advance proposals for restrictions on the advertising of high-polluting vehicles.
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The idea was one of a batch of green measures from a citizens’ forum on climate change that are to be tabled for legislation. Policies promoting bicycles and their electrically assisted versions played a part in a wave of victories by the Greens in nationwide council elections on Sunday.
Anne Hidalgo, re-elected as mayor of Paris with Green support, has promised to rid the capital of all internal combustion vehicles by 2030.
