Helmet company says dangerising cycling is good for business

IMO: Cycling is inherently dangerous, BUT:

You are more likely to have a car crash, and in that instance, more likely to undergo fatal damage to your head.

Wearing a helmet while you're driving would seem to be safer than when cycling, but you just don't.

ANOTHER BUT,

Just do [wear one].

It's totally wrong to latch on to this for marketing, absolute shocker from Rudy.

And that's Rudy Project scratched off my list of companies I'll buy from.

+1
One can only hope after that crass marketing effort Ms Grant will be looking for a new job.

Ms Grant is head of marketing for Rudy Project in the US though, where the laws, retail environment and attitude to risk are slightly different to over here. I wonder how many other helmet companies offer much the same advice to their US dealers except more discretely?

I went into a shop some time ago (in Hereford) where there was a helmet which had obviously been vandalised as opposed to crashed; there was even a bike chain mark on it! Complete with an emotional message. If anyone was wearing this helmet when this damage was done it would be soaked in blood. Obviously a load of crap..to me; to others maybe not so obvious. Cycling can be dangerous but this sort of thing is silly. BUT I always wear a helmet and encourage others to do so.

"dangerising"? who came up with this word? ( I realise I'm missing the point of the article, but really.... dangerising?)

file under: can (of worms) opener.

Selling IS manipulative. But as Mr Moss (the lawyer in the Bike Biz article) pointed out, there is a line beyond which the consumer is being lied to.

I don't think that Ms Grant is suggesting floor staff lie to the consumer. But her scare mongering advice and especially the shambolic-helmet-display idea doesn't sound too clever. Especially in America, where the "slip and fall" legal machine gets up to speed like a Tour breakaway.

Otherwise, it all looked like solid marketing tactics: refuting various consumer objections like "hot headedness" and "looks dorky" are basic skills of any self respecting retail worker.