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RideLondonRideLondon admits photoshopping picture of black woman
Organisers of RideLondon have come under criticism after it emerged that a photograph on their website had been photoshopped to include a black woman participating in the event, with a leading blogger and cycling author saying "they should be embarrassed” about it.
The image, which had apparently been manipulated to try and make the event appear more diverse, has since been deleted from the RideLondon website, reports The Sunday Times.
The photograph above, published by the newspaper shows part of the image. The full picture showed a group of male riders, with female riders from ethnic minorities on either side.
But while two men shown in the image took part in the event in 2018, one of the women only did so the previous year.
Event director Hugh Brasher confirmed that the image had been created from three separate photographs and was aimed at highlighting the diversity of people who take part in events including the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 sportive.
He said: “Three images have been combined to create this composite image: the female cyclists on the bottom left and bottom right were added to the central image of the two male riders bumping fists as they come down The Mall.
“All images are from riders who have participated in sportives at Prudential RideLondon and there was absolutely no intention to mislead.'
“It is not our usual practice to use composite images and this image has been removed from our website.”
He continued: “We know that cycling needs to do more to encourage people from all backgrounds to get involved and that is one of the key aims of Prudential RideLondon.
“We believe that we have led the way for mass participation cycling events.
“More than 100,000 cyclists take part over the weekend in a range of different events that cater for everyone.”
He added: “Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle had 43 per cent women participants in 2018, the 46-mile sportive had 38 per cent women, the 19-mile sportive had 39 per cent women and the 100 mile sportive had 22 per cent women.
“We believe the average percentage of women in mass participation sportives in the UK is approximately 15 per cent.
“We continue to work to inspire people from all backgrounds to get on two wheels.”
Cycling writer Jools Walker, who blogs under the name Lady Velo and is black, said that organisers “should be embarrassed” of the picture:
“All I can imagine is a group of white marketing executives looking at this image and thinking: there’s a problem,” she said.
“But instead of trying to address why people from these groups don’t see cycling as inclusive, they decide to photoshop in ethnic minority women — badly. They should be embarrassed.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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92 comments
Makes sense. Probably applies somewhat to class as well as race. There's this 'star bellied sneetch effect' I think - I gather in China they're shifting from a mass bike-based culture to cars, and now using a bike seems to be becoming a sign of high status for some.
Oi! Stop nicking my posts!
That's the thing though - it doesn't. Poor white people were found not to have the same self-image issue with pedal-powered transport as poor non-white people (on average, of course)
Well I can't dispute that without seeing the oriignal studies referred to. While I don't find it at all hard to believe such an effect is substantially stronger among certain ethnic groups, I am still not convinced it's an all-or-nothing effect or that it would be zero among all demographic categories or all cultures considered 'white'. For example, I wonder if there isn't a generational dependence.
I would be amazed if there wasn't. Will have a Google when I'm on a computer and share links.
Oi! Stop nicking my posts!
Ha! Didn’t realise it hadn’t quoted you - I was responding to your post!
Well, yes, the professionally offended will take offence whatever you do, but if you’re going to do (2) or (3), even if it is for what seems a positive reason, I think you need a footnote. It’s not really a disclaimer, it’s just being honest. Otherwise you end up in exactly this situation.
I have come to realise over the years that as a heterosexual, non disabled, white male from a middle class / privileged background that I am simply very naive of racism, sexism, classism or indeed any form of discrimination that exists because people are different. Personally I have a slight autism which makes it incredibly difficult to recognise people or remember names. Apparently this is quite common for blokes, but I have difficulty when members of my own family have a haircut! Anyway, for me, I'm happy when someone with a stand out trait joins a group that I am a member of; work, cycling, my limited social activities, because it means I have a chance of remembering them. I think that these groups are welcoming to outsiders and I certainly have no issues. However I am aware that this is not always the case and that people who are different may have had bad experiences in the past when trying to engage with a group who don't look like them. Therefore it is important to show diversity and encourage the initial approach.
There have certainly been cases in the past of colour washing, I seem to recall something to do with Ford a few years back swapping out white and coloured colleagues in a group photo, depending on which market the photo was being published in. A company my wife worked for made a huge effort to round up their few ethnic minorities for a marketing photo when the reality was a very white male dominated culture and recruitment pattern, all rather cynical.
It's a tricky line to tread when an organisation wants to promote it's diversity goals but the membership does not currently reflect that ambition. Do the wrong thing or be a bit insensitive and the professionally offended will jump down your throat, completely missing the intent of what the message was meant to convey. Just be honest. In this case a tag line to the effect of it being a montaged image was all that was needed, backed up with an open policy about encouraging frank discussion about how to attract participants from every background. Which is where my naivety strikes because I'm assuming that this is a genuine attempt to promote inclusivity and not just a colour washing exercise to tick a diversity box for funding or some other window dressing purpose.
Maybe certain people do don't certain things . ...because they don't want to....not 'exclusion'.
Maybe certain groups don't like spending their leisure time cycling or it just comes below other things.
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/barriers-to-cycling-for-ethnic-minorities-and-...
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/sport/2018/06/5-reasons-why-you-sh...
https://www.lrsport.org/uploads/barriers-to-sports-participation-for-wom...
https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/campaigns-guide/women-cycling
^^ This I reckon.
Done well, photoshop (or equivalent) can greatly enhance a picture or convey a message more appropriately than the original image - after all pretty much everything on Instagram has been tweaked, filtered etc to look better...
Every marketing image is touched up - sometimes very subtly, sometimes completely re-made.
They made two mistakes; one was doing it badly - maybe they gave it to the office intern; the second was not simply saying underneath - "this is a composite image created using several riders merged into one frame".
Cycling has always been a white mans sport in the uk . Look at the you tube and the likes of Francis Cade or cycling cam or any of the others etc .they are so up thier own arse with pretentious BS it inspires no one , no one can relate to their BS , I mean I have been to countless tours , I’ve riden up cols all over Europe and own and ride 2 sub 4 kilo bikes , I love riding my bikes ,busting my arse . and I hate all those wankers ,I have not a thing in common with them and they never inspire me , I just think how uninspiring they are ,who gives a shit about how long ceramic bearings can spin . You need role models to inspire and there just are not any cycling ethnic high profile role models in the UK . Let’s be honest cycling is now a complete bore fest to watch as well . If only MIke Tyson had took up cycling instead of boxing .
How high profile do you want? Is Shanaze Reade not such an achiever and inspiration?
No , most people outside BMX or track cycling have no idea who she is . She is not high profile . And how the fuck is she going to inspire a young boy -potential tour winner from the streets of hackney . She ain’t .
Most people could not tell you who won the tour d France last year ? No one cares ,not interested.
Cycling had. peak with Armstrong then another with the worse tour win ever Wiggins and the Olympic BS . Then it’s gone faded away in to dust . Who is going to get excited about Froome and co time trialing up a mountain looking at their stems. No one except Ned “fanboy” boulting . It’s fucking boring . Enjoy the tour though
Should have just included random riders and random years etched on their helmets or does he bubble combined on a poster. Then nobody would complain for at least 2 minutes...
They'll learn from this, and do better. This year's edition will be a corker if this photograph of some participants at a coffee stop during training ride for the big event is anything to go by:
He continued: “We know that cycling needs to do more to encourage people from all backgrounds to get involved and that is one of the key aims of Prudential RideLondon.
I can't understand why we have to do more to encourage people from all backgrounds, when I started cycling nobody encouraged me. I just did it. If people want to cycle, they will. They don't need to be encouraged.
Same here. We mucked about on BMXes because it was fun, then we got road bikes because the public transport was cr*ap and we couldn't afford cars.
Recent studies in the UK and The Netherlands found that BAME people gave pretty much the same reasons as anyone else for not cycling - perceived lack of safety being the most common. However, BAME people were far more likely to answer that a perceived lack of status put them off cycling; they particularly associated utility cycling with poverty - an association that put them off swinging a leg over a bike, whether the respondent was poor or not.
Of course, that perception will also have a cause - lack of BAME pros, for example. Cycling as an aspirational pursuit is a pretty recent thing (post-2012?) but doesn't seem to have had any effect on BAME participation rates.
that just tells us that you are blinkered and know nothing about people who are different to you.
Explain how him saying that, means he is blinkered and knows nothing about other people?
My God....such a typical, lefty snowflake response from a typical bleeding heart liberal. Let me guess...you are white...with a beard....hang out at fancy coffee shops with your multi cultural friends who all hate Trump whilst sipping on Expresso....thinking you're more inlcusive and better than anyone else and anyone elses opinion to yours means you think you have the moral high ground to instantly put them down.
Your response is typical of liberal mind-controlled media plebs who can't see truth anymore. You're so brainwashed by a media agenda its remarkable.
The fact is no one gives flying what you think. The photoshopped image is wrong for all sorts if reasons not least of which is that its PC gone mad . You can't FORCE people to become cyclists whatever their colour. If they want to do it then they'll do it. This false 'the UK is multicultural' BS haa got to stop. Just like the TV adverts show every UK family is now made up of a white woman and black man. Ive black friends who actually find that offensive as none of them have white wives.
So get off your liberal high horse and start seeing whats really going on. Idiot.
Typical troll
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I get that you are fixated on the idea you are some poor downtroddden victim becuase, er, well, God knows why...because you see black people in adverts or something?
Clearly a claim to victimhood is very important to you, even if you can't explain what it actually consists of (there are occassionally mixed-race couples on adverts, apparently, and this causes you great pain). There's some industrial-strength irony in you calling others 'snowflakes' even as you bang on about what a poor victim you are.
Russia isn't going to invade. Though liberal-haters like you tend to support politicians who are funded by Russians.
If you hate Britain so much maybe go live in Russia?
"expresso".
To be fair, though it is common to scoff at people who use the term 'expresso', there are sensible reasons to use it and it has entered dictionaries as a word in english.
The difficulty comes from whether the Italian 'espresso' is meaning 'pressed out' or 'quickly made'. Espresso is cited as a past participle of esprimere, from Latin exprimere which is where we get the english 'express' which means both 'to press out' and also 'quickly'. The Italian usage of espresso is probably closer to 'quickly made to order', so there is a good argument for using 'expresso'.
Wait a minute, which forum am I on again?
Biker Phil...are you by any chance a white bloke?
There is nothing wrong with being a white bloke at all. But if you look at the sport as an outsider, it’s generally a bunch of white blokes on bikes. This is in itself encouraging for white blokes, but could be a little discouraging for all the other people who aren’t.
I don’t really get this argument - Perhaps it’s a culture thing but who is doing it is irrelevant - it’s the activity itself that matters to me.
I don't understand what you are trying to say.
Are you arguing that you are uniquely unaffected by socialisation and the world around you? You are an entireyl self-directed, self-created autonomous individual, unlike just about everyone else who ever existed in world history?
If not, what _are_ you saying?
ok think of it this way: does proactively trying to encourage people from different backgrounds damage cycling or reduce your enjoyment?
it not what is your objection?
I don’t have any objection to encouraging more people to cycle but the idea that because an activity is mostly done by one demographic that it’s discouraging or a barrier to entry is absurd. Barriers are mostly of self-constructs to avoid something that the majority of people still see as negativity impacting their status.
if you don't understand something that is an important matter to a whole load of other people, try to see it from their perspective, perhaps by asking them about it, or by doing a bit of research. If you're still not getting it, try asking yourself if you are part of the problem. If you then still don't get it, you are the problem.
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