Hello, Manfred! More bikes, in more locations—and for the first time in Budapest, electric shared bikes are also waiting for you!
The Karácsony–Tisza city leadership has even managed to ruin the one capital service that everyone loved: due to their own mistakes, there will be no Bubi until June.
So the people of Budapest have taken matters into their own hands, and now here’s the solution: Manfred is launching!
The Municipality of Budapest effectively excluded Csepel Works from the tender for the new Bubi bikes, ensuring that the bikes would come from foreign manufacturers.
Both the design and the spirit of the bicycles pay tribute to the world-famous Weiss Manfréd, as innovation and development are key elements of the system. Csepel Works has been a defining symbol of Hungarian industry and local identity for nearly a century—something every Budapest resident can rightly be proud of.
In the first phase of the multi-stage project, 120–150 modern, GPS-equipped, Csepel-manufactured ELECTRIC bicycles will be launched in Csepel and then across the city.
In addition, around 2,500 traditional bikes will be available throughout Budapest!
You can always count on Manfred—not like Karácsony and Tisza! 😉
Surprise, surprise! I’m going to say good things about Manfred. Well, not Weber—but the newest Csepel bikes. Let me show you more closely what they look like: there’s an electric version and a regular, traditional one.
So what happened is that Karácsony Gergely and his team excel at making sure their friends get the right amount of premium benefits and money—but they’re far less capable when it comes to launching the Bubi 3 tender on time. As a result, we now have the unfortunate situation that there will be no Bubi until summer.
To make matters worse, the tender was written in such a way that Hungarian manufacturers—like Csepel, which produced the previous Bubi bikes and is now present on the streets with Manfred—couldn’t even participate. So supposedly, new Bubi bikes will arrive sometime in the summer from a foreign manufacturer.
But the people at Csepel are not the kind to just let this slide. Instead, they came up with what you can see behind me now in multiple parts of Budapest: electric and traditional Csepel bikes that essentially function as a shared bike system very similar to Bubi, allowing us to ride through the summer—and hopefully well beyond.
What’s more, one of its advantages—besides the electric bikes—is that it’s available much more widely across Budapest. It’s not just focused on the city center like Bubi was; it’s also accessible in suburban areas. So I think this is a fantastic innovation.
I’m really happy that it’s Hungarian, so get out there and ride it as much as you can! Just be careful how you navigate Budapest, because those bike lanes painted by Karácsony’s team aren’t always the safest.
So—go cycling, go Manfred! 🚴♂️
👉 Main narrative:
“We = Hungarian, functional, innovative, people-friendly”
“Karácsony–Tisza = incompetent, serving cronies, anti-Hungarian”
“Manfred = the solution”
“Bubi shortage = the opponent’s fault”
👉 Underlying formula:
national pride + enemy image + political blame + marketing
→ “what they ruin, we fix with Hungarian hands”
🔍 Influence techniques
1️⃣ Advertising disguised as political propaganda
👉 Excerpt:
“now here’s the solution: Manfred is launching!”
👉 Technique:
not a simple product introduction, but marketing built on attacking a political opponent
the service is presented as if it were a public salvation
👉 Goal:
don’t see the bike as a bike, but as a political statement
👉 Effect:
if you use or support it, you’re already “on the right side”
2️⃣ False contrast: “they destroy, we solve”
👉 Excerpt:
“because of their own mistakes there will be no Bubi until June”
“so the people of Budapest took matters into their own hands”
👉 Technique:
sharp opposition:
they = incompetent
we = capable
cuts out the complexity of reality
no nuance, no systemic explanation, no administrative context
just a moral story
👉 Goal:
create a simple villain and a simple hero
👉 Effect:
people won’t ask what actually happened
but rather: “who is to blame and who is the savior”
3️⃣ Turning a product into national identity
👉 Excerpt:
“Hungarian manufacturers”
“Csepel Works”
“Weiss Manfréd”
“a defining symbol of Hungarian industry and local identity”
👉 Technique:
the bike is no longer just transport, but a national cause
the brand is linked to:
Hungarian industry
historical memory
local patriotism
pride
👉 Goal:
criticizing it should feel like attacking Hungarian industry itself
👉 Effect:
an emotional shield forms around the project
4️⃣ Implied conspiracy / exclusion narrative
👉 Excerpt:
“the Municipality practically excluded them”
“so that the bikes would definitely be foreign”
👉 Technique:
assigns intent
doesn’t say the tender had certain conditions
but suggests a deliberate move against Hungarian producers
👉 Goal:
make the opponent seem not only incompetent but biased and anti-national
👉 Effect:
triggers anger:
“they’re not just incompetent, they’re selling us out to foreigners”
5️⃣ “Voice of the people” trick
👉 Excerpt:
“the people of Budapest took matters into their own hands”
👉 Technique:
presents a specific initiative as if it were spontaneous public will
even though it’s clearly a politically communicated project
👉 Goal:
legitimize it as the will of the people
👉 Effect:
opposing it feels like opposing the people of Budapest
6️⃣ Patriotic consumption
👉 Excerpt:
“I’m really happy that it’s Hungarian”
“ride it as much as you can”
👉 Technique:
turns usage into a patriotic act
not just “this is good”
but “this is Hungarian, so supporting it is morally right”
👉 Goal:
turn consumer choice into an identity decision
👉 Effect:
choosing the service becomes a loyalty test, not a practical decision
7️⃣ Continuous subtle discrediting of the opponent
👉 Excerpt:
“they deliver premiums and money to their buddies”
“but are less capable of launching a tender on time…”
👉 Technique:
corruption insinuation + incompetence framing
no proof, just loaded keywords:
cronies
money
bonuses
incompetence
👉 Goal:
make the opponent seem not just ineffective, but morally corrupt
👉 Effect:
audience concludes: “they both steal and are incompetent”
8️⃣ Negative campaigning wrapped in positivity
👉 Excerpt:
“fantastically good innovation”
“go cycling, go Manfred!”
👉 Technique:
on the surface it’s positive and enthusiastic
but structurally built on attacking the opponent
👉 Goal:
sell a negative campaign in a friendly, upbeat tone
👉 Effect:
feels less like mudslinging, even though it is
9️⃣ Casual, friendly tone as a manipulation tool
👉 Excerpt:
“Surprise, surprise!”
“I’m going to say good things about Manfred”
“well…”
👉 Technique:
informal, influencer-style tone
makes it feel more natural and authentic
like a spontaneous opinion
👉 Goal:
hide the deliberate political framing
👉 Effect:
propaganda is easier to absorb because it doesn’t sound official
🔟 Turning a transport issue into a culture war
👉 Excerpt:
“not like Karácsony and Tisza”
“foreign bikes”
“Hungarian manufacturer”
👉 Technique:
transforms a city mobility issue into an identity conflict:
Hungarian vs foreign
people vs elite
functioning vs incompetence
👉 Goal:
turn the bike into a political symbol
👉 Effect:
people don’t evaluate a service — they pick a side
🎯 Overall picture
This text is not simply promoting Manfred.
It’s a classic political communication package where:
- product marketing
- mobilization of national sentiment
- framing the opponent as incompetent and anti-Hungarian
- and the “we fix what they break” narrative
are fused together.
The key trick is that it elevates a bike project into a moral-political issue.
So the question is no longer whether the system is good, functional, affordable, or well-designed —
but whether you stand on the “Hungarian side” or with those who “push Hungarians out.”
🧷 In one sentence
This follows the same Fidesz-style communication pattern: take a real (or partly real) problem, frame it in national-emotional terms, build an enemy around it, and present your own project as the solution.