German Transport department says controversial adverts will 'jolt people'

An ad campaign sponsored by the German government has polarised opinions, with leading figures calling it 'embarrassing, stupid and sexist'.

In reply, a spokesperson for the Transport department which was targeting a young audience put off wearing helmets due to aesthetic concerns, said: “a successful road safety campaign should jolt people and can be polarising.”

>>> Best road bike helmets

The campaign posters are due to appear in German cities in the coming weeks, and show near naked models posing with helmets on and little else.

The strap line reads "looks like sh*t, but saves my life", and the campaign is fronted by Germany's Next Top Model candidate, Alicija Köhler.

Chair of the Working Group of Social Democratic Women (ASF), part of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Maria Noichl told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper: "It is embarrassing, stupid and sexist for the transport minister to be selling his policies using naked skin."

>>> What is it legal, and not legal, for cyclists to do in Europe? 

Deputy leader of the group, Katja Mast, called the campaign “embarrassing, stale and sexist” and told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper: “Taxpayer money should not be spent to put half-naked women and men on posters.”

Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer, however, believes it's a forward thinking campaign which will appeal to younger audiences and promote helmet use.

The campaign was produced by the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) and the German Road Safety Council (DVR) following survey results which it says showed that young cyclists are aware of the personal risks of a serious bicycle accident, but don't wear helmets because they're considered to be "impractical, uncomfortable and unaesthetic."

The survey showed that 40 per cent of young riders do not wear a helmet, though 43 per cent rated their personal risk of a serious bike accident involving a head injury as "large of rather large."

Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer: "More than half of the young cyclists say of themselves that they never or rarely wear a helmet. And why not? Because it does not look cool. With our new action, 'looks like sh*t. But saves my life,' therefore, we target specific young people in order to motivate them to put on a helmet for their own protection.

"The saying may not quite be the same as the usual German. [It] brings the message but pretty much to the point: helmets save lives!"