Earlier in the month, DKNY chained orange-painted bikes, branded with DKNY.com, to trees, fences, and bike racks all over Manhattan in order to promote their products and website during New York Fashion Week.

As stated on DKNY’s website, the campaign is all about encouraging the citizens of New York to explore the city on a bicycle for personal health and environmental benefits.

The problem: New Yorkers, especially cyclists, just aren’t buying it. But why?

Perhaps it’s the image on the campaign’s website - a beautiful beau dangerously doubling his gal on the handlebars of his bike (both without helmets) - that has people questioning DKNY’s objectives?

According to the Gothamist, the issue runs deeper: “The neon orange DKNY bikes drew heat from cyclists because the aesthetic is all-too-similar to the nationwide ‘Ghost Bike‘ campaign, which memorializes killed cyclists by locking an all-white bicycle near the scene of the accident.”

In the end, many of the bikes were removed by the police, and others were dismantled by civilians for spare parts.

Is this clever marketing or a shameless stunt? You tell me.

Images via: Gothamist and Rollingrck Flickr.