The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Why is Bird’s Instagram nearly devoid of helmets?
Enter, if you will, the glorious Bird Instagram page, a place of free-wheeling joy and frivolity with more than 73,000 followers.
Scroll downward and you’ll find a seemingly endless stream of micro-mobility mania, from happy hipsters suspended in states of sun-kissed bliss to chic Parisians in cheetah print to a pair of newlyweds locking lips on his and her e-scooters, their image garnished with the most apt hashtag imaginable: “#LoveBirds.”
Amid all the fun, here’s what you won’t see much of, according to researchers at the University of Southern California: Protective gear.
Based on their analysis, researchers claim that only 6.17 percent of the company’s Instagram posts over a nearly 14-month period ending in November “contained persons wearing protective gear.” Though
almost 70 percent of Bird’s posts contained a person visible with a Bird scooter — many of them reposts from Bird users — only “6.79 percent had protective gear somewhere in the post,” researchers found. Another 1.54 percent of posts mentioned protective gear in the comment box.
“While e-scooter companies, like Bird, should consider the importance of road safety, they have instead sponsored a bill that was recently passed by the California Legislature that allows adults to ride e-scooters without helmet,” the study points out.
Why so few images of protective gear?
Dr. Jon-Patrick Allem, who co-authored the study, has a theory: He believes images showing helmets and knee pads aren’t just uncool looking, they also undermine Bird’s branding. That branding, he said, is designed to cast the company’s devices as the kind of accessories that are perfect for a laid-back, fun and liberating — yet environmentally friendly — lifestyle.
In a statement about the USC study, Bird said the company offers riders an in-app tutorial that explains the need to wear a helmet, a free helmet to any rider who requests one, safety demonstrations and “targeted advertising with safety messages on social media platforms.”