Car Commercials, Bike Commuting, and the American Dream

I saw a commercial recently that had an absolutely perfect representation of how society at large views cars. It was, unsurprisingly, a car commercial, but I was struck by the subtlety of what it represented. Take a watch and see for yourself:

Did you catch it? Not just the bicycle, but what the commercial is really saying? Watch it one more time.

Did you see it now? It's subtle, isn't it? It's subtle because it's so ingrained in our culture that you can forget about it. Like white noise, after a while you tune it out. It's the message that cars equal freedom, the open road, and walking or biking are hardships to be avoided by all except those who cannot afford a vehicle. I'm not crazy - watch it again with that in mind.

On the surface, it's simply talking about how the harsh winter is behind us and now we can celebrate spring and the outdoors. It's a pretty standard message this time of year that's hard to argue with, but look at the images used. Does the "Winter hardship" part show people spending ten minutes scraping ice off their windshield before driving at 5mph through barely-plowed streets while road salt eats away at their exhaust? No, it shows people trudging through a blizzard and someone walking their bicycle through a snowdrift. Last I checked, if you're that dedicated to cycling, you can handle snow better than anyone with a car, and if you have a car, you still have to drive in the winter, but you're just not happy about it.

Now the "Spring" portion. A celebration of sun, plants growing and fresh air. All things you can watch go by from inside the climate-controlled cabin of your luxury sedan. And check out the road conditions! There is never more than a single car on the road, joyously cruising along an open highway. That's the "American dream" of driving - the open road. But when was the last time you ever saw a road, let alone a highway, with only one car on it?

Now, this is not a diatribe against cars in general, or against Infiniti as a company. I'm not even critiquing this specific commercial - it's well-done and accomplishes what it set out to do. But it does so by playing to an underlying theme that has pervaded American culture (and that of other countries) since the rise of the automobile. It's the belief in the car as the embodiment of the American Dream: freedom, adventure, comfort. I'm not saying cars don't have their uses - they certainly do, and they can even be lots of fun. But the tacit belief that I see so often, and that this commercial reflects so clearly, is that they are the epitome of transportation and freedom, not just one of many options.

To me, the freedom offered by the bicycle is far more reflective of the American Dream than the car ever could be. To ride a bike is to truly experience the "open road," to enjoy the world around you, to go adventuring, to be free. On a bike, you learn to be a part of the world instead of insulating yourself from it. You are also free from a car-load of debt: Spring sale or not, those Infinitis aren't cheap, but a decent bike is only a few hundred dollars. And you can also easily learn to fix and maintain your own bike with relative ease and with only a handful of tools. To me, that embodies freedom, which is what the American Dream* is all about, far more than any other form of transportation. Car culture is still dominant in America, but bike culture, and the freedom it represents, is gaining popularity and it's encouraging to see more people discovering this new, more attainable version of the American Dream.

-Keegan

*Note: I am aware that the concept of the American Dream also includes the concept of upward mobility and the chance for anyone to be successful. I would love to discuss the class perspective of bicycles versus cars, but that's for another blog post. Stay tuned!