PARIS, FRANCE – In a bold creative move that blends irreverence with advocacy, Škoda and FCB London have launched a provocative new out of home (OOH) campaign promoting the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift by reclaiming one of the more notorious aspects of the men’s Tour de France: penis graffiti.
Each year, hundreds of crude phallic drawings are graffitied onto the mountain routes of the iconic race. These spontaneous markings have become a recurring issue for organisers, who dispatch teams to cover them before they’re picked up by global media. But this year, rather than erase the problem, Škoda is embracing it – transforming the crude into the creative in support of the women’s race.
Škoda, a long-standing partner of the Tour and official vehicle supplier for both the men’s and women’s events, is celebrating its 130th year by adding a symbolic 221st support car to its fleet. This new vehicle, unlike any other in the convoy, carries not athletes or mechanics, but a crew of female artists tasked with repurposing vulgar street art into eye catching designs that promote gender parity in cycling.
The campaign centres on Stage 19 of the men’s race – one of the most scenic yet graffiti prone legs through the mountains. Here, feminist French illustrator Céline Dormeau and London-based illustrator Erin Aniker have reimagined the crude symbols into powerful visual statements, using them to celebrate cycling, challenge stereotypes, and spotlight the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
Each finished artwork features the campaign’s official hashtag, #WatchTheFemmes, urging the Tour’s 3.5 billion strong global audience to tune into the women’s race, which runs from 26 July to 3 August 2025 across nine stages and 1,165 kilometers from Vannes to Châtel.
“Having started our journey in 1895 as a bicycle manufacturer, cycling is in our DNA. And this year, as we celebrate our 130th year, it’s especially meaningful to support the Tour, and see our fourth consecutive year as the main official partner of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the world’s most prestigious women’s cycling race,” said Meredith Kelly, Global Head of Marketing at Škoda. “With this bold visual statement, we’re turning an unwanted problem into a powerful opportunity to promote women’s cycling — and what better platform to do so than by infiltrating the 3.5 billion-strong viewership of the Tour de France, to encourage cycling fans of all genders to watch the women’s race,” she continued.
“When we heard about the penis graffiti that is painted on the course, we saw it as an opportunity to do something bold and disruptive to motivate the Tour’s global audience to sit up and take notice of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift,” added Owen Lee, Chief Creative Officer at FCB London. “By turning the penises into a conversation starter, we’re not only helping the organisers out, but celebrating cycling and getting more people to #WatchTheFemmes,” he continued.
Media planning and buying was handled by PhD and Global Street Art handled the artists.
