The original idea, courtesy Ghost Bike.
DKNY's grotesque theft of concept.There is a grassroots organization dedicated to making drivers more aware of cyclists sharing the road, and to making cyclists more aware of the dangers they face riding in traffic. It's called "Ghost Bike" ( or "Ghost Cycle", as their homepage title insists) and its members whitewash old, damaged bikes and then chain them to light posts and traffic signs on the spots where a cyclist has been either injured or killed in a collision with a motor vehicle. The bikes are decorated with placards detailing more information about that site's accident, and often with flowers, messages and cards left for the cyclist in whose honor these semi-shrines were built. It's a pretty stark, elegant reminder of the everyday dangers to which cyclists are vulnerable. There has been a lot of ink given to this project in the last few years, with articles appearing in newspapers, magazines and news sites all over the web. Naturally, all of this attention would attract some unsavory opportunism.
That unsavory opportunism most recently came in the form of bright orange bikes now being installed around NYC, chained around town in the manner of the original white ghost bikes, but featuring the DKNY logo. Donna Karan New York has decided to co-opt the memorials of dead and injured cyclists to sell more crap to its customers.
Sadly, it will probably work well for them. The kind of person most likely to buy from DKNY will in all likelihood not care about their piggybacking on what Ghost Bikes has done. I'd still love to see them get a big, fat PR black eye from this. Here's a link to the DKNY homepage. Why not drop those fuckers a line and let them know what you think about this tasteless little maneuver. They themselves are probably less at fault than their advertising agency, but they'll let whomever is responsible know what you think, believe me.
One fun little tidbit: the orange link above shows a bunch of the orange bikes being removed by the police, since it's not legal to just chain an ad to a public sign or tree and leave it there. Brilliant marketing there, DKNY.
