Motorcyclist Magazine: Ad Dollars vs. Our Safety

F- Brian "pretty boy" Catterson


Leaked docs show Motorcyclist caved to advertiser pressure, fired editor - Hell For Leather

 

It is a dog eat dog world and I always assumed people at that level behaved like that.

 

I always knew these guys were crooked on their reviews, but putting the riding public at safety risk for the almighty dollar... scum

 

The link to the leaks is great if one reads and understands Norwegian or is it Swedish, Thank God it's not Finnish. Finnish is weirder than English.

We should all rejoice that pulling ads or threats to pull ads only happens in motorcycle magazines and not in the rest of the entire media. This excludes the Jesus radio stations that operate tax free and of course PBS who continue to run "Sharks And More Sharks" along with geezer R&B. I would like to see the two combined myself.

Anyway, chalk up another round for ABATE who have it right that only fags and wankers wear helmets anyway.

 

Sounds like "he said/he said" going on over at Motorcyclist.

Ive about quit looking at moto mags these days, interwebz is much more interesting and current, and as we all know the interwebz is 100% accurate 100% of the time.

 

I guess the only thing I am surprised about, is that this surprises you. This is common practice in many publications, whether it be car, truck, plane, bike, etc. Just like BB is implying. Magazines (most) do not run on charity. They put a lot at risk in the first place by running the original article.

 

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one getting disillusoined with magazines. FWIW I've found much better unbiased reviews on forums. Before I bought my VFR I actually did research on this forum and I learned of the notorious R/R problem that VFRs are known for. Never did I see any of that mentioned in the magazine reviews!

There's also a good review site albiet it doesn't review a ton of stuff: webBikeWorld

 

It's unfortunate in this day and age *sarcasm* that businesses like Motorcyclist have to put the dollar ahead of what the common man would consider to be, "doing the right thing." I'd image in this economic era, that Motorcyclist is having difficulties keeping "large" companies, that create items for motorcyclists, on the hook for advertisement.

It's too bad you can't just say what you want in the media world and not worry about what the man paying your bills has to say about it. Personally, being one of the common men in this world, I'm all for calling out large companies when I smell B.S. in the wind!

Ahh well...I agree webBikeWorld kicks some serious arse. No holds barred, honest sounding reviews of products. Let's just hope the dollar doesn't corrupt such a good place for solid real world information on motorcycle products.

 

Magazines, newspapers, Radio and TV. None of which are exempt from advertisors calling the shots with big pesos as the carrot. If the ad mavens has thier way about it even the net would be controlled. Right now IMO the only entity with that capability ie shutting off the pesos, is Google.

There was an instance of a failed R/R on a VFR being published. A little fuzzy and too lazy today to look it all up but...

Mitch Boehm was out on a putt on a VFR. It quit. (Guess what?) Mitch is rescued by somebody from Honda. In a later issue expecting to find that the POS R/R tanked, we find the bike has gone bye-bye not back to the dealer or to Torrance but back to Japan.


On a more positive note there was one other in CW having to do with a Harley.

Dude restores an older HD. A Knucklehead I think. Rides it to Daytona for the spring opener and takes it to the "World's Largest HD Dealer" in Daytona that had just opened. He wants the oil changed. They don't know how.

I'm like Bear about reading the mags, but I do like the pix of the hotties unless they have moustaches, mullets, or sweet and sour tats..

 

Naivete, alive, and doing quite well. If you are lame enough to believe what you read, then you certainly don't have much respect for yourself anyway.

 

Does this mean that all those Emails y'all do back and forth might jump up and bite ya on the ass sometime?

Keep in mind that Father Honda has folks who get paid money for keeping tabs on websites just like this one and sometimes ever let a few of the selected, either sit on a bike whilst they pump him full of shit or in other cases let someone ride one under very controlled conditions.

OMG! Why does that Blackhawk just above my cave have a Honda logo on it? Eeeek!

 

It is sad to say, but this kind of thing is quite frequent in the review industry. As a member of the review industry myself, I see it on an almost daily basis and it sickens me. It is quite hard to find honest people that aren't afraid to dish out the negative reviews and put their reputation on the line and even harder to find a group of them all working for the same business that will give it to you all just the way it is and without any sugar coating. I for one applaud Dexter Ford for what he has done, hope that he sticks to his guns, and those who were involved in the treacherous acts are all severely punished for their ways.

I've done the same thing myself. Did it cost our company some money? Yep. Did it cost us some future product samples from the company? Yep. Did it please the readers to know that they wouldn't be reading a shitty review with hype out of nowhere just so we could get some more moolah? Yep. The sad thing is that there are so many people out there that just want the truth and are willing to believe whatever it is that they see and read. For those of us that are in the review industry, it is our responsibility to give the truth to the general public regardless of the consequences.

 

I cannot imagine a bigger waste of money......well, that's not entirely true, I actually can imagine a bigger waste of money, but it involves midget strippers, glitter, and recreational drugs.

 

...midget strippers, glitter, go on.... got to be pampered chef stuff involved as well if it is a waste of money.... ;-)

 

What is the truth?? Have an accident at an intersection with 5 people watching and you'll get 5 different accounts of what happened. Which account is the truth? I worked in corporate America for twenty years with corporate 100 & 500 companies. The main thing I found out is- MONEY trumps all! The almighty dollar is the truth. What ever it takes to get it, is the truth. The biggest thing I learned was "It's not what they tell you, BUT what they DON'T tell you" is what you have to worry about! It's called salesmanship.

There is always two or more sides to any story. Depending on what side your standing on depends what the truth is. I was told years ago "If you don't believe anything you read and only half of what you see, you'll being doing good". I've come to believe that. Go back 20,30 40 years or more even and read some of the papers,mags what ever and you'll see the bs, misinformation, half truths and down right lying in many articles.

All the articles about the helmets in this topic are an eye opener for me. I remember when the first full face helmets came out. The Bell Star was an innovation, areal head protector. Today it wouldn't pass muster. The Snell foundation started because of the death of Peter Snell. They have done good in my eyes. With the advent of technology things change because we can get to the truth using science and technology. The problem is sometimes your not told the full truth because of money. In the end though the truth will finally come out if someone is will to fight for it.

Helmets today are far superior to yesterday. No matter which one you buy, talking full face here, they will protect your head and most likely save your life. Because of newer technologies, newer studies can be done if the money is there. Sometimes finding different results or information to help improve a product. If the money is there then those improvements may be implemented. I've seen personally what head injuries can do to people. I don't believe there is anything that can stop all injuries of that type when in a horrendous crash and it may be better to die in the crash than to be alive in a coma for seven years then die from pneumonia.

I try to protect myself with safety equipment for what I'm doing. But I don't think for one minute that it will in all instances. That is up to me to try and avoid those instances and not put myself into those situations. If I do, I better be good at what I'm doing. There are risks in any activity that's considered dangerous and no matter what you do to prepare for them you may still get badly hurt or killed anyway. Now that's the TRUTH!

So what happened with these articles doesn't surprise me. It only makes me more knowledgeable about this particular industry of helmets. Yet it seems like the truth has made it out. Hopefully things will change for the better. Snell has changed, people are more educated about helmets and possibly may be safer and life goes on. That's why the internet must remain neutral with out corporate control so the truth can be told without being stifled by those with the money and control. Sorry about my ramblings I'm just in that mode this morning.

 

Now I know we need a midget stripper thread. I have a yen for those..