Ups And Downs

UPS AND DOWNS

BEST BUY

UP: To Best Buy, a consumer electronics and appliance store, for a superior advertisement. A recent multi-page Best Buy ad insert included several televisions, all with simulated pictures showing motorcycle roadracing.

As D.T. Risdall, a Cycle World reader from Bloomington, Minnesota, notes, "This type of exposure to a mainstream portion of the population can do our sport nothing but good."

UP: To BlueCross and BlueShield of Arizona, for an advertisement publicizing two of its health care plans, and for the plans themselves. The ad features a large photo of a motorcyclist heading down a mountain road with the caption, “What if a health care plan could express your individuality, too?”

In an era when some insurance companies identify motorcycle riding as a dangerous activity that could exclude riders from receiving health coverage, it is refreshing to see that BlueCross and BlueShield of Arizona has taken a more reasonable, enlightened approach.

DOWN: To WBBM, Channel 2, a Chicago television station, for an overblown, sensationalized “special report” on an alleged conflict between motorcycle gangs.

WBBM's story, “Biker Wars," contended that motorcycle gang conflicts in the Chicago area between the Hell’s Henchmen and the Outlaws could result in numerous deaths, and the bombing and destruction of an entire city block.

One WBBM reporter excitedly proclaimed that there was “fear that a murderous gang war is about to burst wide open.”

Unquestionably, this matter can’t be as extreme as the manner in which this story’s reporters played on tired, old stereotypes about motorcycle riders in an effort to frighten viewers.