Publicity Stunt - Long Way Round (2004) Discussion

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] brichtr1 20 years ago

the free bikes thing annoyed me too until Ewan admitted that he felt like they were being a bunch of spoiled greedy people by expecting free bikes.. he was so honest about it and so instead I felt bad for them for not getting them.. because face it, who doesn't want free bikes??

i doubt it was a publicity stunt.. no matter how much fame and fortune they'd get, you don't go on a 20,000 miles bike ride unless you truly are passionate about going.. both of them have liked bikes for a long time and it seems perfectly logical that they'd want to make a trip like this.. the only part i would see as for publicity is the fact that they filmed it.. but frankly I'm glad they did! that was the most exciting, entertaining, amazing 7 hours of television I've ever seen.. it would have been criminal to not have filmed it! They did also seem to hate the publicity aspect of the trip and just seemed like they wanted to be left alone and enjoy the world on their own..

~Rhea

"To know about the Giggle Loop is to become part of the Giggle Loop"

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[–] jose-91 19 years ago

Just to put my 2 cents in.. I don't think it was greed at all. Greed would have been them asking for money to pay for the project and to purchase equipment, which if they had asked for it i'm sure they would have received some sort of money.

Just think of the publicity that BMW gets in return for 2 bikes. What better way to push your product then to have a couple of guys ride them through some of the hardest places in the world? I think BMW came out way on top with this one.

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[–] brichtr1 19 years ago

i bet KTM is kicking themselves right now

also I dont think its greed at all, but I think Ewan and Charley did get paid per episode .. thats to be expected though because otherwise the studio gets all the profit (in the book Ewan complains about how when he filmed a polar bear documentary he didnt get a cent and he didnt believe that the studio gave any money to helping the polar bears in the wild, for this project he wanted more control of where the money went)

~Rhea

"To know about the Giggle Loop is to become part of the Giggle Loop"

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[–] KDiLiello 19 years ago

i didnt think it was much of a publicity stunt. i didnt even know about the show til a week or so ago. nd i thought charley was talking about theres a 1 in 10 chance rather then 1 in 10 movies.. but i could be as wrong as my spelling

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[–] lpala 19 years ago

Their documentary is, in effect, an advertisement for BMW, so they should've gotten the bikes for free. One of the reasons KTM bikes backed out was they thought Ewan would fail and that would be bad advertisement for their product. So BMW was taking a chance of the same thing happening but they went with it.

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[–] stoner_h 19 years ago

Actually if u read the book it definately wasnt a publicity stunt. At first they were just gonna go round the world but they didnt know how to finance it, so, they decided to make a TV show on their way round. But at first it wasnt going to be so it cant of been a publicity stunt

"Thats shirley, My alter ego" - Slash

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[–] adacat14 19 years ago

@ Ipala

I think your going too far to call this a advertisement for BMW. BMW probley have publicity as the main reason for back the two but the amount of times the bikes broke down and bits broke off them, the show can hardly be called and advertisiment

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[–] steve-1922 19 years ago

You fancy building a bike that doesn't ever have bits fall off it while riding 20,000 miles in 3 months? especially when about a quarter of that distance is through conditions that practically no bikes have made it through before?

And anyway, the worst that happened was the frames split, once from some idiot flying into the back of the bike at 50mph on a highway, i'd say you can excuse the poor frame for breaking!

Sorry I'm a bit late, but I just saw this :)

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[–] messynessie 19 years ago

At the beginning it seems to be that Rus and david are making it a publicity stunt, they kept arabging touristy opportunities for the guys, but it was a lot more honest once they stopped arranging things so much.

---------------------------------
No no no!! Stop slashing things!!

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[–] james20a 19 years ago

the amount of times the bikes broke down and bits broke off them, the show can hardly be called and advertisiment

Technically it can though. Yes the bikes broke etc but what other bike has been around the world? (apart from the Triumph)
No other bike has gone through conditions such as they did and considering some of the roads and weather, i think the bikes came off really well! Not too much damage!
And yes there was damage.. but now BMW can see what was wrong, how it went wrong and where and change it.. improve it.. they should be able to make bikes suitable for different terrain etc now!

† Steph †
Spikette #161
"So does he have a hump? a hump and a hair peice?"

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[–] NB2000 19 years ago

the amount of times the bikes broke down and bits broke off them, the show can hardly be called and advertisiment

No other bike has gone through conditions such as they did and considering some of the roads and weather, i think the bikes came off really well! Not too much damage!

Actually during the last episode of the extended series when they were talking about the choice of bikes Ewan said that the KTM probably wouldn't have survived all the falls they had. After one really bad fall where the bike was upside down they picked up the BMW and in Ewan's words

"It just sat there like 'Is that the best you can do? Come On!'"

One by one, the Pirates steal my sanity.......

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[–] djakeypakey-1 19 years ago

Lol, The great thing about the whole series and reading the book is that it makes you feel that you can acheive anything you want to with the right support and the love of your family and friends.
It was such an uplifting experience for me as a viewer and after seeing the '1 year on' episode I am positive it was for them too.

When I see people with perfect teeth, it drives me up the wall!-Johnny Depp

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[–] Lappyfour86 19 years ago

One thing, they werent getting the bikes for free, it's called advertising, thats why there site and the bravo site have pages devoted to the beamers...

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[–] eldenhiemer 19 years ago

You can call it a publicity stunt, advertisment for BMW, or whatever you like...bottom line is that they did it.....how many others on this board have driven 20 000 miles around the world on a motorcycle? Not me....so I say congrats to them and for the people saying it was a stunt...go ahead and plan something like this..not even this big...just something...get started right now and see what sort of time and dedication it takes. That along negates the idea of it being a publicity stunt.

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[–] Richie_Burns 19 years ago

didn,t think it was really a publicity stunt at first, but then they release the special edition DVD, WTF,i already bought the normal DVD, true it has more footage but isn't it just a way to make some more money? Will probably get it anyway.
Still a great achievement and a well thought out money making adventure

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[–] joey_pesci 19 years ago

Seem natural to me and not a publicity stunt although my opinion of Charley is that his a spoilt brat. 'cause he couldn't get the KTM bikes he so wanted, despite them being given for FREE, he went off on one when KTM changed their minds and turned them done.

Another sore point for him was when he over reacted to Russ at that check point. Russ seem completely calm and was explaining something to him yet Charley still insisted on saying "Calm down. blah blah blah, just calm down."

I was like "Erm, he is calm. Its you thats going on a hissy fit. Not only that but you didn't even have the balls to admit you'd made a mistake and not got those forums stamped. Instead, you said to camera you didn't know what they were for, when infact they show footage of you explaining what they were for 5 days ealier."

I put it down to the fact it looks like his parents have always been loaded, hence making him a bit of a spoilt brat, maybe.

Ewan seemed fine though. Apart from episode 1 when he got back to the office and slagged off the Russian girls from the embassy that they'd been to see who were actually trying to just give them advice.

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[–] firework_101 19 years ago

I havent seen the show yet (thats what you get for living in a country that doesn't have Bravo) but I read the book and in it Charley makes it very clear that the hissy fit he had at the border was totally over the line. I think you underestimate the psychological impact that kind of travel would have.

Plus, I have yet to read a post that suggests that it was a publicity stunt. Does anyone really think it was?

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[–] Richie_Burns 19 years ago

I don't think it was a publicity stunt, but they must be getting loads of money for it

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[–] somebody_else 19 years ago

also what was charlie on about? '1 in 5 movies you meet someone who u will stay in touch with' and '1 in 10 you will find a friend for life' .... has charlie even made 10 films?

Haha, I love that line. He's pretty much saying he's only really done about 10 films [pulling fun at himself] and that Ewan is the best friend he kept from that experience. And then they fake tears and share a big manly [or not so manly] hug.

People need to watch these boys and take them with a grain of salt. Seriously. Both of them talked a lot of sh!t because they were tired and hungry and sore. Think of Ewan with his face blown up like a puffer-fish, petrol in his eyes twice, getting hit by a car. Charley didn't cop much better. Plus the pair of them talk a lot of nonsense at the best of times, from what I gather.

In the end they reached their goal, kept a good friendship in tact and shared an experience they will keep forever. I don't know why people have to dump on all of that with 'publicity' nonsense. They made their view on the entertainment industry very clear in Kazakhstan when they were being followed everywhere and roped into doing interviews.

They made money, but it wasn't at the expense of others.

Thank you for curing me of my ridiculous obsession with love.

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[–] Youri22 19 years ago

_______________________________________________________________________________
joey_pesci wrote:

Seem natural to me and not a publicity stunt although my opinion of Charley is that his a spoilt brat. 'cause he couldn't get the KTM bikes he so wanted, despite them being given for FREE, he went off on one when KTM changed their minds and turned them done.

Another sore point for him was when he over reacted to Russ at that check point. Russ seem completely calm and was explaining something to him yet Charley still insisted on saying "Calm down. blah blah blah, just calm down."

I was like "Erm, he is calm. Its you thats going on a hissy fit. Not only that but you didn't even have the balls to admit you'd made a mistake and not got those forums stamped. Instead, you said to camera you didn't know what they were for, when infact they show footage of you explaining what they were for 5 days ealier."
_______________________________________________________________________________

I think Charley was more pissed about the fact KTM said they (he and Ewan) wouldn't make it, than not getting the bikes. When he trows the poster in the bin he says something like "How dare they say we will fail". The Russ "argument" is something that has to do with being tired and maybe he and Russ just didn't click which can happen. I think we all meet people in our life that we just don't like for whatever reason, sometimes you can't even explain it. Charley admitted in the year later episode that he was out of line and that he was to blaim, not Russ.

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[–] ewan_fan 18 years ago

Yeah, I really respect both of them for getting through that journey the way they did... Every human being has his own unique strengths and weaknesses - Ewan and Charley included - but I admire them for honestly admitting to their shortcomings, because I think it takes a big person to do that - especially on camera!

(And I'm still laughing at the puffer-fish comment... Poor Ewan!!!)

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[–] free_storm 19 years ago

i dont think its a publicity stunt. and like as someone pointed out, who in their right mind would go 21,ooo miles (is it? correct me if im wrong)? - well i would. itd be interesting. but... yeah... it doesnt seem like its publicity stunt to me.

btw. i thought this was funny:

'When I see people with perfect teeth, it drives me up the wall!-Johnny Depp'

(someone had it in their comment).

btw. does anyone know what's the name of the song ewan sings in episode 2???

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[–] supasama3 19 years ago

Type in charlie boorman on imdb and u will find hes done loads! Aint heard of most of em though haha

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