Aap! - Alternative Advertising Possibilities

So itâ??s official â?? fixies or fixed gear bikes have broken from the underground communities of Hipsters and old school Japanese fixed gear bike racing to becoming part of the main stream - Fixies have arrived to the cultural mainstream and were recently used by Nike in an large outdoor media campaign launched in Shibuya with the great slogan “No brakes, No Problem - Just Do It - Nike”

Its not uncommon for main stream companies like Nike to use underground trends to market themselves as hip and cool, however these marketing tactics don’t always work and can back fire as in the case of this advert.

Spontaneously - furious discussion started up on the bicycle board of 2-channel, a Japanese internet forum which is thought to be the largest in the world. 2-Channel is a significant influence in Japanese society, approaching that of mass media such as TV, Radio and Magazines. After the erection of the advert forum members launched a flash mob of phone calls and campaigns against Nike, police departments and other government bureaus. The mob reminded the officials of the dangers of biking without brakes - less than 48 hours later - the bill board was taken down.

With civilian backlash - “No Brakes - Big Problem!”

Its great to see this type of civilian accountability towards corporate messaging motivated and channeled through the net, but as a fan of fixies internet parenting is more terrifying.

Read more on the power of 2-Channel by Lisa Katayama’s Wired magazine article “2-Channel Gives Japan’s Famously Quiet People a Mighty Voice“