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news
see their side advert screenshot"Bowing to the minority": TfL official wanted to revive suspended £1 million See their Side ad campaign by digitally altering it
The highly controversial 'See their Side' advertising campaign from Transport for London (TfL) that was halted following a backlash last month had a planned spend of almost £1 million, and a TfL official wanted to revive it by removing evidence the driver in the campaign video had close passed the cyclist, FOI requests have revealed.
The advert, which can still be viewed here, shown an angry altercation between a driver and cyclist after the driver's car and the cyclist almost make contact. The inner monologues of both show that they realise they have "scared" each other, and the two each ask each other if they are ok.
This was met with fierce criticism, however, for suggesting the driver's fear of an angry cyclist from the relative safety of their car seat is equivalent to a cyclist's fear of almost being killed or seriously injured. The position of the cyclist's foot centimetres away from the car 10 seconds into the clip also implies that the driver likely committed an offence by overtaking the cyclist too closely.
> Highway Code changes aimed at protecting cyclists to become law next month
A freedom of information request submitted by transport journalist Carlton Reid, who reported on his findings for Forbes here, asked to see the brief for the advert and all communications between TfL and ad agency VCCP discussing the aftermath following the advert's publication on YouTube.
While the brief appeared to show worthwhile intentions, stating that it wanted VCCP to promote “cycling rather than the car", the request reveals that Will Norman, the Mayor of London's Walking and Cycling Commissioner, wasn't consulted at any stage and didn't sign the campaign off. Instead, the campaign was signed off by two customer directors and TfL's Head of Customer Marketing and Behaviour Change following "engagement with some 27 external organisations."
In the email chain discussing the fallout, a TfL official whose name was redacted emailed VCCP to say that one of the biggest complaints received about the ad was that the driver appeared to have committed a close pass offence against the cyclist. The official then asked VCCP how much it would cost to "edit this slightly not to show the geography", and how quickly could it be done.
> Why does road.cc do Near Miss of the Day?
The VCCP executive replied saying it would take a week, but so far a new version of the ad has not surfaced. The last email in the thread from a TfL official says they are confident the ad would be "back on air in January", and the VCCP executive says they are "gutted" the ad was paused.
The same executive also said they were "bowing to the minority" by removing the ad; even though TfL's research on how the ad was performing shown it had 0% positive engagement, and the sentiment towards it was "very negative."
Shame that £300k in TV Ad fees wasted in safety campaign that was withdrawn. We need effective and well researched campaigns to enhance safety for all road users. @carltonreid https://t.co/qT0MSZeYaC
— Edmund King OBE (@AAPresident) December 30, 2021
Another FOI request asked how much was paid to the agency to create the ad, and how much media spend was allocated broken down by type of broadcast medium.
Before explaining that TfL's research involved psychologists, police, road safety managers and PR officials and a "cultural analysis" of literature, social media and more than 100 adverts over two decades, it was revealed VCCP was paid £383,119.39 for its work on the advert.
The total planned media spend was £548,677.92, meaning TfL had planned to spend almost £1 million on the campaign in total. When the ad was paused, TfL changed the advert to another 'Road Danger Reduction' campaign to recoup some of the costs, reducing the media spend to £318,702.
The amount of money spent on a campaign that was quickly suspended during tough financial times for TfL hasn't gone unnoticed, with the AA's president Edmund King calling for "effective and well researched campaigns to enhance safety for all road users."
Although the campaign's suspension appears to be permanent, TfL still insists the ad campaign is "paused", with a spokesperson telling road.cc in a statement:
“We’re committed to Vision Zero and the elimination of all deaths and serious injuries from London’s roads. That’s why we consistently invest in safer junctions, protected cycle routes, lower speed limits and other important work to make London’s streets safer for everyone.
“The aim of this campaign was to challenge the sometimes divergent nature of London’s road culture and to encourage all road users to be more empathetic when travelling. We know that people walking and cycling are much more vulnerable on the roads than other groups of road users, and this campaign was not designed to suggest otherwise.
“We have paused the ‘See their side’ ad campaign and remain committed to improving the road culture in London and reducing road danger.”
Jack has been writing about cycling and multisport for over a decade, arriving at road.cc via 220 Triathlon Magazine in 2017. He worked across all areas of the website including tech, news and video, and also contributed to eBikeTips before being named Editor of road.cc in 2021 (much to his surprise). Jack has been hooked on cycling since his student days, and currently has a Trek 1.2 for winter riding, a beloved Bickerton folding bike for getting around town and an extra beloved custom Ridley Helium SLX for fantasising about going fast in his stable. Jack has never won a bike race, but does have a master's degree in print journalism and two Guinness World Records for pogo sticking (it's a long story).
Latest Comments
- Car Delenda Est 11 min 48 sec ago
A more appropriate punishment:...
- Rendel Harris 15 min 59 sec ago
By no means claiming that Armstrong was the only doper in that period but your claim makes no sense: the average speed is taken on the time of the...
- Russell Gray 33 min 53 sec ago
Close passing and rank bad driving have almost become the norm, to the point where I expect it and it doesn't shock me. What does shock me are the...
- HoarseMann 39 min 21 sec ago
Furious residents claim they have been blocked in their driveways after a council installed 'ridiculous' cycling wands along a new bike lane....
- kingleo 39 min 39 sec ago
So why did they not make the bridge wider, one side for cyclists and the other for pedestrians with a partition in between?
- wtjs 44 min 49 sec ago
I suffered a close pass by a BMW driver 2 or 3 years ago. 10 yards later he was stopped by temporary lights. It's all on video: there's no swearing...
- ManicDrummer 1 hour 34 min ago
Electromagnetic pedals you say? Call the witch finder general!
- slc 1 hour 51 min ago
I lived in Swansea before and after the new tracks were installed, and cycled along the Mayals Rd a couple of times each week. I'm sorry to say...
- OldRidgeback 1 hour 51 min ago
Ok, so now the trial has proven successful and useful it should be introduced on a compulsory basis for all driving instructors surely?
- Pot00000000 2 hours 8 min ago
If a chain fell between the spokes and the cassette, it's a set up issue not the feckin chain 🙄
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48 comments
If there is no close pass then there is no conflict, no almost killing and so the bit loses it's whole point.
There is no equivalence between almost killing someone and almost being killed.
Much as there is no similarity between destroying someone's family because of your awful driving and the occasional bad dreams that might sometimes result for taking the life of an innocent, no matter how much remorse your defence solicitor claims you may "feel".
Or the guilt you may feel through innatention or distraction which caused serious and perhaps life changing injuries, and the actual pain that the victim really feels often for the rest of their lives. Let alone the fear that they will carry with them if they do manage to get back on their bicycle.
Worse than that, it changes to a scenario where the angry cyclist rages at the driver for doing nothing wrong.
Nicw way to reinforce prejudices against cyclists using budget intended to improve safety and increase active travel.
CUK's Duncan Dollimore as ever, hits the bullseye; From the Forbes article:
Dollimore added that any later digital manipulation of the advert would have “involved digging a bigger hole.”
And Simon Monk was also spot on:
Simon Munk, campaigns manager at London Cycling Campaign, said:
“The ad failed to communicate the supposed central stated aim of the campaign—that collisions with vulnerable road users are not inevitable. Its approach was not in line with behavior change programs that work, nor did the ad clearly target the biggest sources of road danger as a priority, which is central to the Vision Zero approach.”
Even Edmund King points out that the failure to consult widely with different road user groups was a mistake.
Begs the question just exactly which 27 organisations were consulted?
Whereas he should have said,
“...Its approach was not in line with behaviour change programmes that work, ...”
How's about a NY Resolution to actually post something useful and be less of a grammar & spelling Nazi?
Also Program is perfectly valid usage.
Wow! Did you wake up with a hangover?
I think correcting the misuse of "program" (which, in a British context is anything not referring to computer code) is reasonable and useful. It reminds people that we are not American.
I may be the grammar police, but I am not a Nazi. How very pre-emptively Godwinian of you.
Rude!
Yes, if the 'program' concerned is computer code (although even that originates from Americans' inability to spell programme). Otherwise, no.
In point of fact, "program" is the earlier spelling in British English (1633 versus 1671 according to the OED) following the same Greek roots as anagram, diagram etc. The adoption of the French-influenced "programme" only became widespread in Britain from the first part of the nineteenth century. As with several other spellings for which people sneer at our transatlantic cousins (for example "-ize" endings) it was actually we, as British speakers/writers, who changed the more traditional spelling, not they.
Well, if we can't do it, who can?
The roots originate from Late Latin and Greek "programma", so we simply corrected ourselves via the French form. Sadly, our transatlantic cousins have failed to do likewise.
Nevertheless, in modern British usage, program has a narrow usage; broader usage is just not cricket, and must be called out for the knavish trick it is.
If you can change programma to programme you can change it to program; do you reject the word diagram because it comes from the Latin diagramma and insist it should be diagramme, or think that the Latin anagramma and French anagramme mean that anagram should be spelled anagramme? Language evolves and changes, our way's fine but others aren't wrong.
Well, whatever. If it's not on a computer, it's a programme. Just about every dictionary going reflects that.
Yeah - get with the program.
Easy tiger, the article was in Forbes, an American publication so if they fancy saving a bit of ink we should congratulate them on making a small contribution to reducing their massive carbon footprint.
"Engaged", not consulted. Consultation means opportunity to respond or provide input on specific proposals or content.
Engagement can mean pretty much any kind of contact - just informing the external organistion, or having a generic conversation and then doing whatever you think best based on your interpretation of the dialogue.
I think we can tell what type the majority of this "engagement" was ...
The "unamed executive" appears to be in denial about the flaws with the campaign and unless they retract needs to be removed from any further involvement in it as they are obviously part of the problem.
As for not checking with Will Norman - wtaf?
Maybe they should have chucked in another £10 and asked a couple of cyclists?
Well apparently 27 external organisations were consulted. I'm guessing that is the next subject of the FOI because apart from the AA (going on the "Gutted" tweet), I would like to know which other ones and how many were cycling organisations. I'm guessing not Cycling UK from their responses initialy.
I'd have put my two penn'orth in for free...
You're so cheap!🤣
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