Outraged, please!!! It's a fucking orange painted bike, get over yourselves.

GET YOUR OWN!

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/bik/565051148.html

Own a piece of New York history. Failed advertising gimmick gone wrong or high fashionable treasure? Decoratively painted and embossed with the DKNY logo, this could be yours. Cruiser bike was part of DKNY's mysterious campaign to build bicycle awareness and 75 of these bikes were locked up around the city. It struck a cord with the local bike community and many of these bikes were taken or vandalized. Their limited existence only increases their value. Not sure what the components are because of the artfully done paint job. Be the first in Soho to ride this down the runway.

$1,000.00 OBO.

jimimage says "I do not repeat my letter here but have a few points for this readership".

If what you provided represents only select portions of your letter, I for one would like to see the entire missive.

jimimage: DKNY apologized. Many New Yorkers including myself and a number of my friends (many of whom ride bicycles) have never heard of Ghost Bikes. Just because something is meaningful to you doesn't mean it's meaningful to everyone else.

This post may have educated a lot of people about Ghost Bikes, but they're really not something everyone outside of the cycling subcommunity knows about. DKNY apologized: Calling their apology "couched and banal" isn't exactly gracious.

What did you want them to say?

I don't take the significance of the Ghost Bike's lightly so I wrote DKNY. I do not repeat my letter here but have a few points for this readership.

Please acknowledge, any slightly capable NYer who might see a DKNY.com bike has seen a Ghost Bike already (yes, tourists excused). Perhaps ignorance will allow many to not realize that one is a commercial rip-off of the other.

But only willful ignorance or brazen arrogance can explain how NYC creatives (my assumption) concocted a rip-off of Ghost Bikes for advertising w/o having learned why they exist. And only a thoroughly inconsiderate A.E. boss would field such a campaign.

That rant aside. After reading up on the purported ad campaign goals I did contact DKNY, not as customer but as annoyed bicyclist, and recv'd today the below response. It explains a little more than what is on their site already.

(The apology couched and banal)...

DKNY is working with the Mayor's office to raise awareness of cycling as a
healthy and environmentally sound means of transportation around NYC.
During Fashion Week (which runs the first week of February), DKNY has
placed dozens of bright orange bicycles around the city to get people
thinking…and talking about bicycles as a healthy and fashionable way to get
around the city. DKNY’s marketing team developed the orange bicycle
campaign to support the Mayor’s office ongoing efforts, in a way that would
draw attention to this important initiative. We also provided financial
support to help the New York City Department of Transportation raise
awareness of its initiative to build a far-reaching network of innovative
designed bicycle lanes and new bicycle parking facilities while stepping up
education for cyclists and drivers.

We are very sorry if our well-intentioned “Explore Your City” program

offended anyone.

Additional information about DKNY’s bicycle program is available at

DKNY.com

My first reaction wasn't that they were "inspired" by the Ghost Bikes, but rather that they are playing off of the campaigns in many cities to provide free/low cost bike rentals. Maybe you're just reading this wrong - but I suppose they could be a little more sensitive since at least one person has made this connection to the ghost bikes.

Fair enough Tim N.

Dave Hogarty's closing remark

DKNY has crossed the line from "edgy" to "despicable," by co-opting grassroot memorials to dead people as a gimmick to peddle clothes

certainly supports the conclusion that DKNY deliberately subverted the ghost-rider memorials for its unfortunate ad campaign. If it was deliberate, I agree with you and some of the other posters that it was in terrible taste to do so. However, I do not think that Hogarty's conclusion is sufficiently supported, and it seems more likely that this whole thing is just an unfortunate coincidence.

I can get a little carried away in trying to make a point. As much as I personally love cycling, I would never do it on the city streets and I would actively discourage anyone I care about from doing so. It's way too dangerous, as is rollerblading, skateboarding, or anything else that places a person in the path of a large moving vehicle. I'm not a big fan of the cycling advocacy groups because bicycles + city streets = dead cyclists.

The people who decide to cycle in the streets in spite of the obvious danger can wear helmets and observe basic traffic rules - we all know that many do not. It still does not eliminate the danger. Some events, like a car door opening or hitting a pothole, can for the most part be anticipated and avoided, but the one time you miss, you might get killed. It sounds like that's what happened to David Smith.

Getting hit by some a drunk is a little different, at least to me. Walking, cycling, or riding a car, we all depend on the other guy to behave responsibly, and properly so. When someone drives drunk, they have violated that basic social agreement. I agree 100% that it's a shame about the cyclist who was run down by a drunk driver, and the bastard who did it deserves whatever hatred and anger you want to throw his way.

reading comprehension eyekantspel!!!!!

david smith did not did not just happen to ride into traffic out of sheer whimsy, nor did he directly hit the car door!!!!!! for that matter neither did he deliberately decide to fall in front of an oncoming truck!

he was FORCED into traffic by the pickup truck PARKED IN THE BIKE LANE. just then the idiot passenger of that truck swung the door open INTO david smith thereby CAUSING him to fall into the path of an oncoming truck who by the way could have slowed down enough to avoid disaster upon seeing a cyclist forced to dodge a parked vehicle. (yes i changed the words to make the imagery clearer!)

THIS in NO FUCKING WAY is the same as just "slipping in the shower or having a heart attack or whatever."

SHEESH!!!!

Okay, fair enough, eyekant.

I'm a cyclist. Some cyclists are assholes. I also drive a car. Some drivers are assholes. I also enjoy walking around the city. Some pedestrians... I'm sure you get the point. The assholes will always be with us (I also like posting on Gothamist, some posters... alright, I'll let it go). I could debate you on the merits of cycling in the city, since we obviously disagree, but I'll save that for another day.

I took great personal offense at the imagery. I suppose I would like to believe what Mike D is alluding to, but then I think of the kid who was killed on the bikepath, wearing a helmet, with lights on his bike, by a drunk driver who mistook the path for a street. His Ghost Bike is the one near Houston Street.

It is only my opinion, but it sure looked to me like the imagery had been bogarted to sell clothes. Again, IMHO, unless they (like the artists you refer to) are deliberately trying to provoke, they have a responsibility to know. The Ghost Bikes are a part of the NYC landscape, and the clothing brand itself is called DKNY for chrissakes. So I'll say, as many have, shame on her and shame on her company. As for the rest, well, we'll leave it for another day.

Tim N: I really think they were unaware. The first thing I thought of was Portland's free bikes. I've seen Ghost Bikes without knowing what they were or that there was a movement surrounding it.

The fact that there are Ghost Bikes near DKNY's headquarters DOES NOT mean that there are Ghost Bikes near their marketing firm or ad agency.

I think emilydickinson is completely correct: The real crime here is simply that they're taking up some of the few available bike spots.

Eliot, I still doubt that the powers that be at DKNY who set up this campaign did so with knowledge of the ghost rider memorial thing, because it's bad business to deliberately offend your potential customer base.

I clicked through to read about David Smith.

David Smith, 63, was riding in the Sixth Avenue bike lane on his way to work, as he did every day. As is often necessary when riding in this bike lane, he rode into traffic to avoid a pickup truck blocking his way. At that moment, Augustus Browne opened her passenger door without looking, knocking David off of his bike and sending him into the path of a truck that ran him over.

It sounds like an unfortunate accident. The rest of the bio says he "he had all sorts of lights and safety things on his bike." This guy was aware that biking can be dangerous, and at least was responsible about trying to minimize risk. But he still found himself in a situation where he went into traffic and ran into someone opening a door.

I don't know David Smith, and take no pleasure in his death, but it's the kind of thing that happens when you engage in an inherently risky activity like biking in a city. I don't see why a bunch of strangers should be expected to mourn or observe his passing just because he happened to die while riding a bike instead of slipping in the shower or having a heart attack or whatever. We all die, mostly without intending to do so because of things that are not entirely within our control. Cest la vie.

Tim N. If you were referring to me, I never claimed to be Catholic, indeed, I said I was not religious. I was merely pointing out the hypocrisy of those who think using Catholic imagery is acceptable even if it causes offense, now crying foul at the use of a colored bike.

I admit I can be disrespectful, condescending, and an asshole, sometimes all at once.

I don't hate cyclists, although I do think that cycling advocates who suggest that it's a good mode of transportation in NYC are morons. And I think a lot of cyclists on the city streets are reckless self-centered idiots who frequently disregard their own safety and that of pedestrians only to bitch and complain about the accidents that inevitably result.

Okay, so in addition to being disrespectful and condescending, you hate cyclists. The true colors at last.

What an asshole.

With Catholics like you, who needs demons?

Okay, so in addition to being disrespectful and condescending, you hate cyclists. The true colors at last.

What an asshole.

With Catholics like you, who needs demons?

dkny headquarters are less than a block from the ghost bike for david smith, killed while riding in a bike lane.

As of this afternoon there is still at least one of the bikes chained up at Bryant Park.

Dear Tim N.,

On behalf of Corporate Entity, please accept our deepest apology for having offended you through our orange bike ad campaign. Corporate Entity was not aware of the fallen-cyclist memorials used by ghost-rider. We have spoken to Nameless Corporate Drone, who has assured us that it will be more diligent in determining if future campaigns could be found offensive in the future. We have also donated Token Sum of Money to the ghost-rider memorial fund as a gesture of our corporate goodwill and benevolence. We hope that you consider buying our line of Corporate Entity undergarments, which do not bunch up so easily.

Best regards,

Nameless Vice President

At the core, this really gets back to the whole cycling in the city argument. Riding a bicycle in the city is inherently risky. Regardless of whether the cyclist is at fault for the accident that causes demise, there is some assumption of risk in engaging in the activity.

I'm not sure why someone dying from riding a bicycle deserves a freestanding memorial any more than someone choking on their dinner, falling from a scaffold, getting stabbed accidentally, etc. I suppose it serves as a reminder to the living that life is fleeting and to exercise caution when engaging in that kind of activity.

Do the ghost-rider memorials give details about how the death occurred? "Riding with helmet and reflectors, Joey was run down by some SUV driving idiot on a cellphone" [poor Joey] or "Riding against traffic without a helmet, Sally ran through a red light and was hit by a bus." [Sally should have been more careful] Everyone dies, so in a memorial setting I'd like a little information to assess how I feel about it.

The cops have taken away the bikes. Still waiting on the DKNY apology.

"peculiar sensitivities"

We've all got 'em, pal. I'll show yours more respect than you've shown mine, as my Catholic upbringing taught me to do.

you're right Tim N., I should not have put quotations around your outrage. Doing so suggests that maybe this whole thing doesn't really have your panties in a bunch, when apparently it does.

Oh my goodness, a painted bicycle, oh me oh my, how will I ever get through my day?