Biking and bragging

Bikes have an inherent problem of managing the “I” factor. It kick starts a big ego ; an ego which is embedded in its DNA. Distinctly differentiated from the docile domesticated scooter bikes are born to defy all codes of control and restraint. In its compact entity it is stuffed with power that can match four wheelers in speed and acceleration. What it loses in size it compensates in sound, be it in the boom of the engine or in the unusually loud horn. If a scooter purrs, a bike blares.
The bike and the biker complement each other in this ego trip. Sitting on his sleek bike and covering his head inside a space–suit designed helmet ,the known family man transforms himself into an cold mechanical entity .His family on the pillion looks in contrast extremely fragile ,vulnerable and far removed from his steely cocooned world. His behavior also highlights this change. Ask any motorist they dread a biker more than an autowala . The biker would dodge, dribble, defy all traffic rules. His ego lies in his acceleration, defying gravitation; speed creates a blurred sphere around him where his only audience is he himself. In his mental amphitheatre he is the performer and he is the only viewer.
What about the bike ads . Do they mirror this to motivate consumer or engage with hardcore feature selling like any other machine ads?
A good number of the bike advertising are built around ego trip. Why the biker lifts the front wheel or jumps the terrains or negotiates the hair raising turns and to what end? His megalomania takes different forms .When he is in the deluxe mode he thinks he is the harbinger of change and lives a larger than life existence; he changes everything from spotted shirts to dotted dogs; in his world Tommy bhi deluxe. In his more enlightened mood he rises above petty clashes and glitches of life. His magnanimity makes him forgive his father or a teacher who chastised him, or the boss who humiliated him. In his euphoria he soars above all failures.
Another set of ads portray his ego in quixotic absurdity. A Ritwik Roshan fights with a tornado to retrieve his cap; in another occasion he engages literally into mudslinging with what looks like a band of outlaws. There is no damsel in distress no oppressed soul to be protected from the oppressor; no fires exchanged no bad words; tit for tat mud for mud. Is it a very male thing to do? Are these commercials really connecting with teen age fancy?

Leaving aside the ego portrayal the rest of the bike advertising are hardcore feature selling. Fuel economy, durability, trendy looks and switch start and the latest auto transmission system. Why should bike advertising need to stick to the speed, power, glamour, fuel efficiency or technical superiority. In order to be a brand a product needs to be more than a bike / machine. Have we, as communicators, really looked into life and tried to understand the role a two wheeler plays in our lives. Out on the street dramas being enacted every day. I was a witness to one such around two bikers.
I was driving along a road which had a little stretch of climb. The pushcart on the left side of the road dumped with cement bags was being pushed up by a profusely sweating laborer. His stamina was first draining out and very soon the cart started rolling back slowly threatening to crush the puller under its weight .In came from nowhere two bikers with all the filmy trappings- leather gloves, eye gear et al and positioned themselves on either side of the rolling cart;firmly positioning themselves on their bikes each one propped one leg on to the cart and throttled their bike engines. Within seconds the rolling reversed and the cart with combined man and machine power started negotiating the climb. The sweating cart puller looked gratefully to the young bikers who gave him a smile and thumps up and then once the cart got into level road they disappeared.
Imagine the sequence as a TV commmercial!It's sad we dont look around and make every communication so formula and so straight jacketed. what do you think?