Giro ad on US TV - Contador

[Granville57]

WTF is THIS?!

I was watching País Vasco on Universal Sports, and this was the commercial they ran for the 2011 Giro d’Italia:

Alberto Contador.
Is he a champion or a fraud?
Honorable or a cheat?
All eyes are on him. You decide.
The 2011 Giro d'Italia.

Now just what-in-the-hell kind of a way is that to promote a Grand Tour, or cycling itself for that matter? I don’t see how that does a damn thing other than to perpetuate the negative public image that surrounds cycling to the passive fan. But then I had to wonder just how much of this is the continued smear campaign against Contador’s image now that Versus and Universal Sports are merging under NBC umbrella.

It reminds me a bit of the “Take back the Tour” campaign that Versus ran heading into the 2007 TdF. But it seems like a colossally stupid way to promote a sport.

And just how does watching the Giro on TV allow one to “decide” if Contador is a “cheater” or not? It would seem to immediately dismiss any success he might have. Why bother to watch then?

I can’t possibly imagine any other sport being “promoted” like this.
I don’t remember any major networks running similar commercials when Barry Bonds was approaching the home run record. Did people talk about the suspicions? Of course. But would a network use those suspicions to “promote” viewership? Uh, no.

I never cease to be amazed at the ways in which the sport continues to shoot itself in the foot. Even if this example is the media's doing, it usually starts at the top.

(btw, I searched in vain for a link to the clip. Couldn't find anything online yet)

 

[thehog]

Did Lance have a dip in the copy?

WTF is THIS?!

I was watching País Vasco on Universal Sports, and this was the commercial they ran for the 2011 Giro d’Italia:


Now just what-in-the-hell kind of a way is that to promote a Grand Tour, or cycling itself for that matter? I don’t see how that does a damn thing other than to perpetuate the negative public image that surrounds cycling to the passive fan. But then I had to wonder just how much of this is the continued smear campaign against Contador’s image now that Versus and Universal Sports are merging under NBC umbrella.

It reminds me a bit of the “Take back the Tour” campaign that Versus ran heading into the 2007 TdF. But it seems like a colossally stupid way to promote a sport.

And just how does watching the Giro on TV allow one to “decide” if Contador is a “cheater” or not? It would seem to immediately dismiss any success he might have. Why bother to watch then?

I can’t possibly imagine any other sport being “promoted” like this.
I don’t remember any major networks running similar commercials when Barry Bonds was approaching the home run record. Did people talk about the suspicions? Of course. But would a network use those suspicions to “promote” viewership? Uh, no.

I never cease to be amazed at the ways in which the sport continues to shoot itself in the foot. Even if this example is the media's doing, it usually starts at the top.

(btw, I searched in vain for a link to the clip. Couldn't find anything online yet)

 

[lean mean &green]

WTF is THIS?!

I was watching País Vasco on Universal Sports, and this was the commercial they ran for the 2011 Giro d’Italia:


Now just what-in-the-hell kind of a way is that to promote a Grand Tour, or cycling itself for that matter? I don’t see how that does a damn thing other than to perpetuate the negative public image that surrounds cycling to the passive fan. But then I had to wonder just how much of this is the continued smear campaign against Contador’s image now that Versus and Universal Sports are merging under NBC umbrella.

It reminds me a bit of the “Take back the Tour” campaign that Versus ran heading into the 2007 TdF. But it seems like a colossally stupid way to promote a sport.

And just how does watching the Giro on TV allow one to “decide” if Contador is a “cheater” or not? It would seem to immediately dismiss any success he might have. Why bother to watch then?

I can’t possibly imagine any other sport being “promoted” like this.
I don’t remember any major networks running similar commercials when Barry Bonds was approaching the home run record. Did people talk about the suspicions? Of course. But would a network use those suspicions to “promote” viewership? Uh, no.

I never cease to be amazed at the ways in which the sport continues to shoot itself in the foot. Even if this example is the media's doing, it usually starts at the top.

(btw, I searched in vain for a link to the clip. Couldn't find anything online yet)

i haven't seen the commercial but i have to say your rant feels over the top to me. also, living in the Philadelphia area i've had my ears open on the Comcast/NBC deal for awhile and even posted about the implications it would have on race coverage last summer but no one wanted to talk about it then. techinically, it is NBC Universal now falling under the Comcast umbrella. Universal Sports and Versus are only very small parts of those companies respectively. the FCC only recently approved the merger on Jan 18 after over a year of discussions. Comcast has their hands full right now trying to make a few extra billion by getting congress to destroy net neutrality so they can steal business away from netflix and cash in on hulu - soooo i'm not sure if pushing an anti-contador agenda is on the top of their to-do list right now. how about a couple of rhetorical questions...

do "passive" fans even watch the giro on universal sports let alone the ads for it running during pais vasco? ok sorry, that one's just sarcastic and doesn't really help us.

should Universal Sports avoid the issue of doping altogether? contador's case will likely be caught up in appeal during the event so they can't really ignore it - you have to admit they're in a bind when it comes to promoting this race.

(i reserve the right to change course once i've seen the commercial in question)

 

[Granville57]

i haven't seen the commercial but i have to say your rant feels over the top to me.<snip>

Well it was a rant, I'll freely admit that.

do "passive" fans even watch the giro on universal sports let alone the ads for it running during pais vasco? ok sorry, that one's just sarcastic and doesn't really help us.

Perfectly valid question. No, they most likely don't. But I don't know if that's the only time that commercial is airing. But Universal is known as the jock network, and I certainly see events on there that I otherwise wouldn't be very familiar with, so I have to assume other types of athletes might catch parts of País Vasco while waiting for swimming or any of the other sports that are covered.

At the very least, it just seems like a very odd "theme" to adopt for an ad campaign. It narrows the focus in an unnecessary way. I just have to wonder, Is that the only story they could extract to encourage viewership? I have no idea as to who was behind the decision—or even if it was a nefarious one at all—but someone made that call, and to me, it was hardly a productive one.

Also, consider this: LA is officially "under investigation" right now. If he had entered this year's Iron Man in Hawaii (as had been speculated until very recently) could you imagine any network running a similar ad regarding LA? I can't. (Not that I'm looking for an LA debate here)

Btw, thanks for the info on the Comcast/Versus issue. I've yet to explore too many of the details, but I'm very curious about it.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Saw It

WTF is THIS?!

I was watching País Vasco on Universal Sports, and this was the commercial they ran for the 2011 Giro d’Italia....

(btw, I searched in vain for a link to the clip. Couldn't find anything online yet)

I saw it too. I've been watching Universal Sports for a couple of years now and I've never seen anything like it before. I'd argue that the guttersnipes at Versus did it. It seems like the kind of promoting I've seen just visiting their site. I wonder what the new marching orders are over there.

If it pulls in more viewers, expect more of it. I don't think it will give them the boost they are looking for because the message doesn't resonate outside a pretty small group of consumers. That said, it's tough to draw new people in.

BTW, Todd and the other guy are doing better. Todd's shirt is 2 sizes too big in the stage 6 episode.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Commercial on Vimeo

Here's an export of the commercial. Thanks MythTV!

http://vimeo.com/22186379

 

[Granville57]

Here's an export of the commercial. Thanks MythTV!

http://vimeo.com/22186379user360787/commercial

Dead link.

 

[Berzin]

These are the same people who thought, without a moment of reflection, that Contador's duty was to lay down, die, and hand over the Tour for the glorious Armstrong 2.0 Comeback Machine.

So their bias is expected. The American cycling media has beaten that dog to death and could not handle any reality that deviated from the script.

No, this is certainly not the way it should promote the 2011 Giro D'Italia, but they have an obvious axe to grind and are told by their producers which track to take. So they take it.

It is an unfortunate choice they have made, but they are going to stick to it until the very end. And if Armstrong is ever found in a court of law to be a doper, they will still throw a parade for him because at this point the fanboys truly believe doping was just part of the game, and like the focus and training it takes to win the Tour, they believe it takes an iron will to also out-dope the whole peloton, so he wins in that regard also.

Winning...duh!!!

 

[DirtyWorks]

Blah!

Dead link.

Try this one. http://vimeo.com/22186379

 

[Granville57]

Try this one. http://vimeo.com/22186379

Bingo! Thanks for the link.
I updated my quote with the word "honorable" which I do recall as the original line. This clip doesn't have the "all eyes are on him" phrase but obviously, like any commercial, there will be variations on a theme.

It's interesting to watch again. I hadn't even realized that they used footage of "chaingate" when the implying the "cheating" aspect. Advertising the Giro on Universal, yet using footage from the TdF on Versus. The incest is complete.

There were SO many epic scenes from last year's Giro—flooded streets, brutal wind and rain, snow, insanely steep & narrow climbs—they couldn't have used some of that footage to entice the audience?

It saddens me to think where this is all going.

 

[DirtyWorks]

There were SO many epic scenes from last year's Giro—flooded streets, brutal wind and rain, snow, insanely steep & narrow climbs—they couldn't have used some of that footage to entice the audience?

Exactly.

Trying to grow the Giro coverage using the TdF is pretty bad, but that's pragmatic marketing.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Here's an export of the commercial. Thanks MythTV!

http://vimeo.com/22186379

That is a great CM in my opinion. You decide.

If if you do not like it you will probably like the Disaronno on the rocks.

 

[CMDiva]

WTF is THIS?!

I was watching País Vasco on Universal Sports, and this was the commercial they ran for the 2011 Giro d’Italia:


Now just what-in-the-hell kind of a way is that to promote a Grand Tour, or cycling itself for that matter? I don’t see how that does a damn thing other than to perpetuate the negative public image that surrounds cycling to the passive fan. But then I had to wonder just how much of this is the continued smear campaign against Contador’s image now that Versus and Universal Sports are merging under NBC umbrella.

It reminds me a bit of the “Take back the Tour” campaign that Versus ran heading into the 2007 TdF. But it seems like a colossally stupid way to promote a sport.

And just how does watching the Giro on TV allow one to “decide” if Contador is a “cheater” or not? It would seem to immediately dismiss any success he might have. Why bother to watch then?

I can’t possibly imagine any other sport being “promoted” like this.
I don’t remember any major networks running similar commercials when Barry Bonds was approaching the home run record. Did people talk about the suspicions? Of course. But would a network use those suspicions to “promote” viewership? Uh, no.

I never cease to be amazed at the ways in which the sport continues to shoot itself in the foot. Even if this example is the media's doing, it usually starts at the top.

(btw, I searched in vain for a link to the clip. Couldn't find anything online yet)

I saw it on Versus and thought the same...WTF! If they included all riders that were"questionable" the ad would be longer than the race.

 

[just some guy]

Check it out a disgrace and I´m not even a Contador fan.

Contador advert on US TV

Way to promto cycling - maybe not !!

You decide.

 

[Escarabajo]

I was shocked when I saw it. Way to promote one of the biggest cycling events.

Maybe this one will go into the Clinic.

 

[theyoungest]

Unbelievable. What kind of commercial did they make for Armstrong's return to the Tour?

 

[Angliru]

I was pretty shocked. I could understand Versus doing it but Universal? Of course they're both under the same ownership now so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I wonder did Bobke help in putting it together?

I really can't see how they can expect to promote an event and the sport itself with a negatively based ad. Their argument will be they were just "keeping it real"!

 

[icefire]

Looks like the ad has been done by the organiser of the ToC

 

[Michielveedeebee]

pathetic sqdfqdf

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Forget that the commercial features Contador. The commercial is just freak-hog weird. NOT a good promo.

 

[therhodeo]

Forget that the commercial features Contador. The commercial is just freak-hog weird. NOT a good promo.

Not at all.

 

[El Pistolero]

Yeah, already saw this on Astanafans site. Pretty disgusting, but now I really hope he'll win the Giro

Even if they take the Giro win(if he wins) away in the end, everyone will always remember him as the winner.

 

[hrotha]

Yeah, already saw this on Astanafans site. Pretty disgusting, but now I really hope he'll win the Giro

Funny, I would have sworn you were already a fan.

 

[jens_attacks]

stupid fuccs.

 

[ergmonkey]

Too bad Lance had to retire again. Instead of "Most Epic Race. Ever." ads, maybe this year we would have seen "Who's the Biggest Fraud or Maybe-Champion? Ever." for this year's Tour.

Everything about that ad is awful. And I mean everything, from concept through to every detail of execution.