Flat Earth: Born to be dull

The recent launch in Denmark of Ford's "Born To be Wild" car ad - the one featuring Dennis Hopper driving a Ford Cougar side by side with his younger self on a Harley-Davidson in the film Easy Rider - incensed the local Friends of the Earth. They think it is a bad influence: not on young tearaways, but on the over-50s.

"We don't think that Ford's unveiled call on middle-aged drivers to ... relive the youthful rush of adrenaline is an expression of decent marketing in the light of the many traffic deaths and injuries caused by excessive speed and wild driving," the environmentalists intoned after lodging a complaint with the consumers' ombudsman. It sounds like some of them are going through a mid-life crisis themselves.