MTB & Industry News

I Hate Jeffsy from YT Industries

Until now, I’ve regarded YT Industries as a fairly progressive brand. They’re a startup, direct-to-consumer bike manufacturer who have managed to sign some pretty big names, including the king himself, Aaron Gwin. However, their latest marketing campaign, the ambiguously coined “I Hate Jeffsy” is some straight-up machismo bullshit. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what’s going on here. Basically, this impossibly attractive (although notice how the female maintains her RBF throughout) couple is feuding over how much time the dude spends with his bike “Jeffsy” – cute, right? This is up there with those “I LOVE when MY WIFE let’s me go mountain biking” t-shirts, in terms of appropriating and reinforcing bullshit gender norms. If only we all should be so lucky to find partners and significant others who share similar passions and god forbid want to spend time with each other doing what they love. But I get it, some people don’t like mountain biking (hard to believe, I know!) and fall in love with people who do or vice-versa. However if you’re going to go that route, for the love of everything that is not Ted Cruz, show some sour-puss faced dudes hating on Jeffsy as well. It’s fucking 2016 YT, time to get with the program!

I hate Jeffsy

Way to start them young YT! This is a surefire way to inspire more female cyclists.


The campaign comes complete with it’s own social media and hashtag component, as evidenced in the above screenshot from ihatejeffsy.com. Not to fear though, it’s just as backwards and fucked up as the YouTube video (below). Whatever YT’s intentions, I’m sure the flat brimmed bro-bra, women-bashing trolls still living in mom’s basement crowd is going to eat it up. So way to go YT, you’ve successfully targeted the Donald Trump supporters of the mountain biking industry!

Show YT Who Hates Jeffsy The Most!

You know who really hates Jeffsy the most? Your taint. I mean you ride that shit hard, and when was the last time you thanked your taint or bought them a beer after an epic ride? Never… that’s what we thought. So here’s what we propose: Let’s show YT who hates Jeffsy the most by hashtagging taint pictures (dirty chamois pics may suffice) with #IhateJeffsy. Now that’s sure to be some viral shit…

About the author

Alex

Alex is a designer by trade & mid-grade adventurer by night who’s quite partial to knobby tired bikes, clean design, & dirty hands. When not updating this silly website, he's likely off exploring the nearby hills with a few of his favorite partners in crime.

17 Comments

  • How can you say it’s sexist if you don’t even know what it’s about? Shall we all assume it’s against dogs and motorcycles and kids, too? Come on.

    • But we do know what it’s about… it’s about pitting girlfriends/wives against their male counterpart’s interests, or in this case a mountain bike. Like we said, if they showed some dudes pissed off at Jeffsy as well, then it would just be a silly ad campaign. As it is now, it’s tired & cliche while reducing 50% of the population to a “naggy bitch girlfriend” stereotype. Personally, we’d like to see more women riders on the trails and choose to support brands who share those values.

  • There is nothing sexist about this campaign.. It’s like saying the campaign is racist because the couple is white.. where are all the asians and native americans!? come on…

    “let’s take over their campaign by hashtagging taint pictures” ..You are acting aggressive and like a little child.. get a life and start discussing instead of spreading REAL hate..

    • Saying this campaign is racist because there are no other races present is in no way analogous to the argument presented in the post. If a race as a whole was being portrayed as a negative stereotype (as indeed women are here), then yes, it would be racist. However you are correct in your assertion that there is little diversity within the MTB/cycling industry. Something we’d like to see changed, and is why we’re bringing these issues to light.

      We’re curious as to how exactly we’re the ones spreading hate… after all, we weren’t who came up with the #ihate… campaign in the first place. You have YT to thank for that. We’re simply the ones who are calling them out on a bullshit, misogynistic, ad campaign.

      • but women aren’t portrayed as a negative stereotype. It is just a short clip showing a girl complaining about her boyfriend.. isn’t it sexist because you are trying to see it like that? You could also say that men are portrayed in a negative way because the guy doesn’t care enough for his girlfriend and spends all day with jeffsy instead of her..

        YT started a hate campaign about a fictional character.. you’re trying to start a hate campaign against a real company… that’s what I meant with “REAL hate”…

  • I can’t believe YT didn’t use a black transgendered asian bruce jenner midget vegan paraplegic to create this bicycle advertisement video, because we all know their main goal as a bicycle company is to destroy all the world’s social injustice!

    Fuck off Author, stop trying to wave your imaginary intellectual dick around the internet.

    • Aren’t you late for that Donald Trump rally or jerkin’ off your cousin or some other similar activity for simpletons?

  • Laughing my priviledged white male ass off, you are finding problems where are none. Go Jeffsy! cant want to buy one and use it for its inteded, induce super smile to any rider who tames it….. And fuck everything else 😀

  • I’m glad I found this when googling ‘Why I hate Jeffsy is a terrible campaign’. It’s exactly that. ‘Let’s play on the idea that a) it’s just dudes that want to spend heaps of time riding, and b) all girlfriends/wives do is get upset when their loved one spends time doing anything that doesn’t involve them.’ What bullshit. What an archaic and misogynistic bullshit trope to use in an advertising campaign. If my significant other wants to go riding with mates, great! If I want to go riding with them, choice. If I want to go riding with my mates, fuck yeah. Why present relationships where people act as handbrakes towards their loved ones? Why present it as though women are the only ones who might do this in a relationship? Pretty disappointing to see this sort of advertising in a community that could do with some gender balance as it is.

  • Come on…. It’s a great marketing campaing. Sometimes we are taking things out of place, and we see racists, and gender issues we there are no one. Sometimes the campaing becomes true, sometimes I have the feeling my wife is jelous of my bike, btw I’m waiting for my new Jeffsy. 🙂

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