Coca-Cola made a bit of a splash recently with their sponsorship of Olympic contender, Sam Willoughby.
Of course, Sam’s been getting a lot of hype recently as he is one of the favorites to not only podium but possibly get the gold in the games.
Coke’s been using Sam’s image in a lot of advertising lately so you would think they would be hip to the nuances of the whole BMX thing by now.
That’s why I was a bit surprised to see this poster in my neighborhood convenience store.
“Go for the Gold” it says, along with a prominent Olympic logo and the image of a BMXer either riding street (or dirt I suppose) on a bike with pegs!
Is the marketing department over at Coke unaware that there are different types of BMX riding?
Sure, there were rumors a while back that freestyle might make it into the Olympics but that hasn’t panned out. Now here we are a couple weeks out for the Olympics and we have a Coke ad with a street rider “Going for the Gold”.
Part of me thinks I should just let this slide and just be happy that BMX is getting some play from a major company. On the flip-side, however, I’m little ticked off that they could get it so wrong with this ad.
Maybe this will all change if Sam does get the Gold medal this summer.
Somehow I doubt it.
cruiser revolution 
I havent seen any bmx stuff in the olympic adds on tv in australia. I guess we wil hear quit a bit if sam the ozzie ozzie ozzie wins gold though. your average person wouldn’t know how to tell the difference between a bmx and a mountain bike anyway and a crusier ? thats a large boat , isn’t it?
Where did you see that ad? That is me on the bmx. @nickolasballard
It was on a poster in the window of a convenience store in Toronto.
With no helmet!