I`m beginning to question whether ot not the mainstream surfing media and its advertisers actually lie or attempt to deceive the general surfing/consumer population, through the means of commision or omission. Help!!!
I`m beginning to question whether ot not the mainstream surfing media and > its advertisers actually lie or attempt to deceive the general > surfing/consumer population, through the means of commision or omission. > Help!!! HOW SO, WOULD YOU CARE TO ELABORATE?
All idustries conceal certain things from their customers. An example i work in the Hotel insustry and i would make around $50-$80 a week on commissions from taxi companies and tour companies for making bookings for guests. Thats $10 that each of those people dont really have to pay but i do it because i can. Ask yourself if the pair of boardies you just brought is worth the money you paid for them, of course they’re not. Ive got a pair from Bali that have lasted me just as long and they cost $5. take the label off and the department store around the corner will be selling the same ones for a third of the price of the surf shop. They were made in the same factory in China for 50 cents, but the surf company jacks the price up because they can. Preying on customer ignorance is a normal thing to do in business. If the consumer will pay $20 extra for that little tag to be sewn on then the company will charge the extra $20. Imagine the shit that goes on at the big three, Quiksilver, RipCurl and Billabong. Many a magazine publisher would have been bent over and left with a sore ring after dealing with those guys.
HOW SO, WOULD YOU CARE TO ELABORATE? the old formula is simple: promise more, give less. heres some of my favs: surfboards that cost hundreds of dollars and fall apart before I
ve finished paying for them. My few humble looking homemade ones last longer, are cheaper and often work better. Why is that? Expensive wertsuits that work great for a month or two, then fall apart. Too bad their warranty repairs cant be copmpleted as quickly. Boards and accessories endorsed in the mags/vids by “team” riders who only ride them for sponsored photo ops. What I really want to see two page ads of the huge overseas pop-out factories. Any of the surf equipment junk that`s disquised in expensive marketing programs designed to give it the feeling of being “custom”, “handcrafted”, “limited edition” “new”, “made the old way” etc. and actually are just more third world sweat shop high-volume low quality crap, sold at low-volume high quality prices. Anything sold on the basis of unreal function but after you buy it and try it, you find that the “function” they referred to was 99% fashion. Heavily advertised shapes that really are magic for certain top sponsored riders, but the kiss of death for everyone else. Ads that promote greed, lust, inadequacy, dissatisfaction, dislike between different people and age groups. Surfers who play the full-on b.s. “media role model” angle, but are the exact opposite in real life.
I`m beginning to question whether ot not the mainstream surfing media and > its advertisers actually lie or attempt to deceive the general > surfing/consumer population, through the means of commision or omission. > Help!!! The primary agenda of mainstream surfing media and its advertisers is to sell their product. Whether it be magazines, t-shirts, surfboards, etc. The content of the various media are tweaked to best sell their products to potential consumers. Realize that it is all business and these companies will most likely do and say anything (legally) to push their wares. This is another reason why we should be thankful for the small, custom operations that are still in existence. In the sea of lies and deceptions, our only islands of salvation are those who are willing to deal honestly and respectfully with their customers on a one-on-one basis. The intelligent consumer can usually see through all the B.S. and industry smoke and mirrors. It’s the poor saps like septic who really have something to worry about. Their lives are validated by what they see in magazines, videos and advertisements. They worship false heroes that have been placed on pedestals covered with sponsor’s stickers and logos. What the septic’s of the world don’t realize is that their so-called extreme lifestyles have been planned, designed and force-fed to them by ad execs. and suits sitting in a corporate office. Stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.
the old formula is simple: promise more, give less. heres some of my favs:>>> surfboards that cost hundreds of dollars and fall apart before I
ve > finished paying for them. My few humble looking homemade ones last longer, > are cheaper and often work better. Why is that?>>> Expensive wertsuits that work great for a month or two, then fall apart. > Too bad their warranty repairs cant be copmpleted as quickly.>>> Boards and accessories endorsed in the mags/vids by “team” > riders who only ride them for sponsored photo ops. What I really want to > see two page ads of the huge overseas pop-out factories.>>> Any of the surf equipment junk thats disquised in expensive marketing > programs designed to give it the feeling of being "custom", > "handcrafted", "limited edition" "new", > "made the old way" etc. and actually are just more third world > sweat shop high-volume low quality crap, sold at low-volume high quality > prices.>>> Anything sold on the basis of unreal function but after you buy it and try > it, you find that the "function" they referred to was 99% > fashion.>>> Heavily advertised shapes that really are magic for certain top sponsored > riders, but the kiss of death for everyone else.>>> Ads that promote greed, lust, inadequacy, dissatisfaction, dislike between > different people and age groups.>>> Surfers who play the full-on b.s. "media role model" angle, but > are the exact opposite in real life. youre a perfect object lesson for giving it up by the time youre 30! sounds like an overdose of the surfers journal to me. queer old stuff.
I’ll never buy another board again in my life. The first longboard I shaped is as good as any other you can buy, and will most likely outlast any commercial board. Sure there’s no fancy logo, and no fancy pro endorsing it, but it’s MY board that I crafted in MY garage with MY hands. As for the rest, it’s all BS. Pro surfing is a joke. The industry’s biggest profit comes from mom’s buying back to school clothes for their kids. Yeah I am disenchanted by all the commercialism surrounding an activity that is more or less free. YES believe it or not after you shell out some dough for a board, or make your own board, you can detatch the “commercial umbilical cord” and enjoy surfing for all the beauty, innocence and freedom that it truly possesses.
The primary agenda of mainstream surfing media and its advertisers is to > sell their product. Whether it be magazines, t-shirts, surfboards, etc. > The content of the various media are tweaked to best sell their products > to potential consumers. Realize that it is all business and these > companies will most likely do and say anything (legally) to push their > wares. This is another reason why we should be thankful for the small, > custom operations that are still in existence. In the sea of lies and > deceptions, our only islands of salvation are those who are willing to > deal honestly and respectfully with their customers on a one-on-one basis. > The intelligent consumer can usually see through all the B.S. and industry > smoke and mirrors. It’s the poor saps like septic who really have > something to worry about. Their lives are validated by what they see in > magazines, videos and advertisements. They worship false heroes that have > been placed on pedestals covered with sponsor’s stickers and logos. What > the septic’s of the world don’t realize is that their so-called extreme > lifestyles have been planned, designed and force-fed to them by ad execs. > and suits sitting in a corporate office. Stand for something or you’ll > fall for anything. IT’S NOT ABOUT THE OVER 30 GROUP, THEIR BUYING IS CHANGING TO WORK CLOTHES. IT’S THE ‘JUNIORS’!!! THEY WANT WHAT THEIR HEROES ARE RIDING/WEARING/DRIVING/DOING, YOU OLDSTERS(INCLUDING MYSELF) HAVE AREADY MISSED THE BOAT AND CAN ONLY PREACH ABOUT THE WAY IT WAS DONE BACK IN THE DAY!!! TRY TO PICK OUT A PAIR OF SKATE SHOES FOR YOUR 13 YEAR OLD SOME TIME, YOU HAVE NO CLUE THE IMPORTANCE OF FASHION IN THE EYES OF A ADOLESCENT TRYING TO FIT IN. MARKETING EXPERTS SPEND THEIR LIVES FEEDING OFF OF THE TARGET BUYING GROUPS AND YOUR TEENAGERS USING ‘YOUR’ MONEY. TRYING TO ‘TALK SENSE’ INTO A YOUNG VIBRANT NSSA MENEHUNE RIPPER IS LIKE SPEAKING FRENCH UNLESS YOU HAVE FREE STUFF TO GIVE THEM! ROSS AND MARSHALL’S DEPT. STORE ACTUALLY SELL SURFER CLOTHES FOR 1/2 THE SURFSHOP PRICE BUT YOU WOULD HAVE TO DO IT ON THE DOWN LOW OR IT’S NOT COOL TO THE UP AND COMING RIPPER WANNA-BE’S.
IT’S NOT ABOUT THE OVER 30 GROUP, THEIR BUYING IS CHANGING TO WORK > CLOTHES. IT’S THE ‘JUNIORS’!!! The problem is, none of it is about surfing. Surfers are divided into groups for the express purpose of getting their money. THEY WANT WHAT THEIR HEROES ARE > RIDING/WEARING/DRIVING/DOING, YOU OLDSTERS(INCLUDING MYSELF) HAVE AREADY > MISSED THE BOAT AND CAN ONLY PREACH ABOUT THE WAY IT WAS DONE BACK IN THE > DAY!!! TRY TO PICK OUT A PAIR OF SKATE SHOES FOR YOUR 13 YEAR OLD SOME > TIME, YOU HAVE NO CLUE THE IMPORTANCE OF FASHION IN THE EYES OF A > ADOLESCENT TRYING TO FIT IN. This has always been true. Any old guys remember the Hang Ten patch? But if you do, remember it wasn’t something you could buy… MARKETING EXPERTS SPEND THEIR LIVES FEEDING > OFF OF THE TARGET BUYING GROUPS AND YOUR TEENAGERS USING ‘YOUR’ MONEY. True. Screw them to death, too. With the possible exception of Quiksilver and their “Silver Edition”, they totally ignore the fact that with a little brains and effort they could double their money by also marketing a different line to the parental units. But they don’t want to risk their “street cred” with the juniors. Sounds like gutless, shortsighted, money grubbing…ah, the sport of kings.>>> TRYING TO ‘TALK SENSE’ INTO A YOUNG VIBRANT NSSA MENEHUNE RIPPER IS LIKE > SPEAKING FRENCH UNLESS YOU HAVE FREE STUFF TO GIVE THEM! No wonder there is no respect for anything anymore. So the performance benchmark of surfing 2002 is selling yourself for the highest dollar? Take take take. This doesn’t even include pro contest surfing - hard to imagine that was ever an issue. What has brought the usual magazines and advertisers under screwtiny is the vapid portrayal of surfing they grind out month after month. You could be a great surfer and never get your picture in a magazine if you aren’t sponsored by a big advertiser. There is only so much room in a magazine, and there are a lot of great surfers. Most all of the editorial content is “manufactured” these days - not much new is happening, so not much of it is reporting in a traditional sense of the word. So yet another “boat trip to indo” is scheduled, like ordering another batch of widgets, and content is delivered on time. Yet it is presented like some groundbreaking, life-altering, sport-changing experience. Which it isn’t. Instead of these little nuggets of poop having the attitude that just going on a trip like this is great, the emphasis is on GETTING PAID to go on trips like this. Somewhere along the line fun became equated with money. Older surfers, perhaps with generational, if not personal, memories of things like war and death, have every right to not respect artifical commercial criteria being force fed to surfing masses for private gain.
Its much more subtle than that. If you read most articles in Surfer or Surfing they are about personalities, not surfing. When I read an article about Lombok, I want to know about the waves and the culture and maybe a funny story or two. Instead, the article is about what a cut-up this guy is or how many aerials he landed. By selling the personality in the article, it indirectly introduces you to the product that personality represents. “Joe Blow pulled of 30 stale fish fakies! That is so cool and he wears Turd shoes in this ad so they must be cool too!” The whole idea of “fun” has been eliminated. Everything is made to be so important or critical to the survival of species that it is comical. The mainstream stuff is so polluted for me, I can get what I want reading them at the grocery store. If you know what the media are doing, then you can react appropriately; do or don’t by a product, do or don’t buy a publication. I don’t knock companies for advertising or publishing magazines; I knock uninformed consumers for falling for it or thinking its some kind of grand conspiracy.
Its much more subtle than that. If you read most articles in Surfer or > Surfing they are about personalities, not surfing. When I read an article > about Lombok, I want to know about the waves and the culture and maybe a > funny story or two. Instead, the article is about what a cut-up this guy > is or how many aerials he landed. By selling the personality in the > article, it indirectly introduces you to the product that personality > represents. “Joe Blow pulled of 30 stale fish fakies! That is so cool > and he wears Turd shoes in this ad so they must be cool too!” The > whole idea of “fun” has been eliminated. Everything is made to > be so important or critical to the survival of species that it is comical. > The mainstream stuff is so polluted for me, I can get what I want reading > them at the grocery store. If you know what the media are doing, then you > can react appropriately; do or don’t by a product, do or don’t buy a > publication. I don’t knock companies for advertising or publishing > magazines; I knock uninformed consumers for falling for it or thinking its > some kind of grand conspiracy. I think it wpould be interesting to see the stats on where the greatest % of surf-and surf related products are sold.eg, midwest…
Its much more subtle than that. Everything is made to > be so important or critical to the survival of species that it is comical. > The mainstream stuff is so polluted for me, I can get what I want reading > them at the grocery store. If you know what the media are doing, then you > can react appropriately; do or don’t by a product, do or don’t buy a > publication. I don’t knock companies for advertising or publishing > magazines; I knock uninformed consumers for falling for it or thinking its > some kind of grand conspiracy. Despite what some might think, I don’t really knock the companies or the magazines too much anymore. If you are in business, and have employees, then my feeling is you should take it seriously and really BE IN BUSINESS. I’ll certainly critique their efforts, and if I see something I think is bad for the sport or participants, well, it’s my sport too. “Youth” society today in the U.S. : kids growing up with tv/dvd in the SUV or mini-van; cell phones now with games and text messaging; PS2/Xbox/Gameboy; big screen tv at home, blah blah blah. Endless amusements and communication about nothing, diluting the humanity. They WANT to be sold things. Nothing is so great that money can’t conquer…oops, well, that isn’t true, but then they’ll find that out the hard way down the line… So the kids want what they want, when they want it, and others sell it to them. The hidden part is the thought process behind the marketers, things like the concept of “branding” (building brand loyalty to blind the consumer). The Hidden Marketeers laugh at the cattle as they line up with Dad’s charge card. Sorry there is no board or wave-riding content in this post - it’s about Surfing. Nels
The problem is, none of it is about surfing. Surfers are divided into > groups for the express purpose of getting their money.>>> THEY WANT WHAT THEIR HEROES ARE>>> This has always been true. Any old guys remember the Hang Ten patch? But > if you do, remember it wasn’t something you could buy…>>> MARKETING EXPERTS SPEND THEIR LIVES FEEDING>>> True. Screw them to death, too. With the possible exception of Quiksilver > and their “Silver Edition”, they totally ignore the fact that > with a little brains and effort they could double their money by also > marketing a different line to the parental units. But they don’t want to > risk their “street cred” with the juniors. Sounds like gutless, > shortsighted, money grubbing…ah, the sport of kings.>>> No wonder there is no respect for anything anymore. So the performance > benchmark of surfing 2002 is selling yourself for the highest dollar? Take > take take. This doesn’t even include pro contest surfing - hard to imagine > that was ever an issue. What has brought the usual magazines and > advertisers under screwtiny is the vapid portrayal of surfing they grind > out month after month. You could be a great surfer and never get your > picture in a magazine if you aren’t sponsored by a big advertiser. There > is only so much room in a magazine, and there are a lot of great surfers. > Most all of the editorial content is “manufactured” these days - > not much new is happening, so not much of it is reporting in a traditional > sense of the word. So yet another “boat trip to indo” is > scheduled, like ordering another batch of widgets, and content is > delivered on time. Yet it is presented like some groundbreaking, > life-altering, sport-changing experience. Which it isn’t. Instead of these > little nuggets of poop having the attitude that just going on a trip like > this is great, the emphasis is on GETTING PAID to go on trips like this.>>> Somewhere along the line fun became equated with money. Older surfers, > perhaps with generational, if not personal, memories of things like war > and death, have every right to not respect artifical commercial criteria > being force fed to surfing masses for private gain. Nels, you are very focused and amazingly able to decifer my sometimes sarcastic wit and ramblings, we must have similar paths and/or life stories, Jim Phillips reacts the same way! Thanks I’m stoked…
Despite what some might think, I don’t really knock the companies or the > magazines too much anymore. If you are in business, and have employees, > then my feeling is you should take it seriously and really BE IN BUSINESS. > I’ll certainly critique their efforts, and if I see something I think is > bad for the sport or participants, well, it’s my sport too.>>> “Youth” society today in the U.S. : kids growing up with tv/dvd > in the SUV or mini-van; cell phones now with games and text messaging; > PS2/Xbox/Gameboy; big screen tv at home, blah blah blah. Endless > amusements and communication about nothing, diluting the humanity. They > WANT to be sold things. Nothing is so great that money can’t > conquer…oops, well, that isn’t true, but then they’ll find that out the > hard way down the line…>>> So the kids want what they want, when they want it, and others sell it to > them. The hidden part is the thought process behind the marketers, things > like the concept of “branding” (building brand loyalty to blind > the consumer). The Hidden Marketeers laugh at the cattle as they line up > with Dad’s charge card.>>> Sorry there is no board or wave-riding content in this post - it’s about > Surfing.>>> Nels Nels,et.al.: there is a book that addresses what is happening to our mass marketed ,buy now! culture.It’s been about 9-10 years since I read it, so I will have to double check it’s title when I get home, but it really echoes some of the things that have been said here.It’s title is something like: Entertaining Ourselves to Death.I feel many of you would enjoy it.
There really is no need to get so disenchanted about all this. It’s business and it’s driven by us, the consumer! We live in a ‘free market’ world which means if we don’t like it we don’t have to buy it! We’re very lucky compared to many who don’t have too many choices. Freedom should be appreciated.
Nels,et.al.:>>> there is a book that addresses what is happening to our mass marketed ,buy > now! culture.It’s been about 9-10 years since I read it, so I will have to > double check it’s title when I get home, but it really echoes some of the > things that have been said here.It’s title is something like: Entertaining > Ourselves to Death.I feel many of you would enjoy it. Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. thoughtful/thought provoking. jim dunlop