Hey BTW - thanks a ton for a solid response. I really appreciate it, I'm honest to god not wanting to get completely irresponsible on this matter, and would love to discuss it at length. So thank you for jumping this conversation back up.
The meat of my matter,
I can not agree with you more than the fact that you hated this. I can not agree more with anyone that hated this... they fucking hated it. They hated everything that it was about. I even understand that, as this type of image back in the day would have pissed me off too. I absolutely used to HATE Tanner (sorry buddy) and the C-Crew for their gangster bullshit.
The thing is that we're mixing image and skiing. I think that is the crux of where this image gets confused. I mean really in all contexts of life, skiing is a completely ridiculous thing. There is no purpose to it for survival, it does not add to our society. HOwever, its really, really fun. Skiing is an act, which in itself is extremely pure. I don't know the last time I was slashing a huge pow turn or hitting a big jump that I was concerned about image in that moment. Skiing is pure.
However, skiing requires an incredible amount of equipment. As such, it is like almost no other sport, deeply buried in consumerism. Skiing has a higher average household Income than Yachting and Golf. Yes that is true... we are the richest fucking sport on the planet.
The second factor is how much people define their lives as a skier. Like no other sport, people who ski wear it like a badge that states who they are as a person. What you ski, how you ski is who you are.
Mix this incredible self-identity, massive consumerism, and more money than any other sport and you end up with a super weird consumer space.
One thing that happens, is that companies (though small in the grand scheme of things) are actually able to do well for themselves, if they can appeal to a certain portion of the market. Its a very small market - as overall skiing is an incredibly small, niche and elite sport - but it is an extremely loyal market.
What then happens is that very specific segments of a small, lucrative sport become extremely crowded - from a marketing standpoint. When you think traditional skiing, there's a bazillion players in the space that are already well set. Don't even try to touch the distribution / shop mafia that comes with the traditional space.
Snowboarding broke out of this model, and literally (fact) stole half of the skiers. Snowboarding appealed to a young segment of the sport that was sick of the stuck up bullshit that skiing had become. If you weren't there, trust me... skiing in the early-mid '90s fucking sucked. I stood there in my super tight racing boots with a skin suit on, watching snowboarders hitting jumps and rails. All the while I had to stare at 'no skiers in the park' signs posted everywhere around that fenced in area. I even once had a ski patrol tell me 'the reason that skiers can't go in the park is because snowboarders are in control in the air.'
From a philosophical standpoint, what I back is the fact that skiing finally took a stand. We finally rose up against the establishment that was boring, and instead of starting snowboarding we decided to break down the boundaries and do it on our own. Shit man, in the early days I used to get snowballs thrown at me because I was a skier in snowboard territory. However - we didn't give a fuck... we were newschool freestyle and we were all about breaking the rules.
We took a stand, and we did things differently. I didn't agree with Tanner and the C-crew, I didn't like the way that some of the pros presented themselves... but I sure as shit liked them better than hermann Maier and doing slalom gates all day. I didn't like everything about it, but what I loved is that we were doing what we wanted, instead of what someone else told us to do.
Fast forward a few years (today) and no longer are we the under-dogs, we're all of a sudden the big shit on campus. We're in the olympics, we rule the X-games, we grab the Dew Tour daytime TV spots... we're the big boys. Action sports have become more mainstream than baseball.
Some people are fucking stoked on that, and more power to them. Our image is clean, parents can tell their kids they'll be an olympic hero, you'll get on american news for what you do.... we're bigtime now. Corporate sponsors are everywhere.
HOWEVER - when people try to say that this FDWear thing is a bad marketing ploy, they're extremely wrong. Putting out a completely over-the-top gangster edit (which really if you're not getting angry you can realize is making fun of the gangster thing) is the most genius marketing move they can make. Its too easy to say "terrible marketing what the fuck are you thinking" - but remember - every other outerwear company in the sport is trying NOT to be that. We can't get it out of our heads that the olympics, prime time TV and the 'real' skiers are looking at us... so as companies we sterilize and make suer everything is kosher.
FD Wear with an edit like this appeals to a small segment of the market. It alienates a massive segment of the market... but those people would have been completely comfortable (and totally happy) buying North Face, Spyder, Orage... any other brad which has a rad image to choose from. However, those people that they didn't alienate.. those ones that want to identify with that 'gangster' image - are going to absolutely love it. You don't need an immense customer base in the ski industry to be extremely successful. You find your niche, and you make sure to service them.
Its very akin to why we've never gone over-the-top with Backcountry on Newschoolers. I mean sure, lots of people here are into it... we're all about it.... we're all about covering it... but the niche of NS is the fact that its roots are in east coast park skiing.
So yes - you can totally hate this video. All the people that do are not wrong for hating it.... but they're wrong for saying it has no worth and it is a stupid marketing gimic. Lots of us skiers out here love living our stupid little piece of non-reality at the mountains as some fantastical character. Sometimes we're a white ghetto kid with baggy shit... we watch edits where guys from boulder who ski give the fantasty of a thug life....
There is not answer to this thread. That is the key, and that is also the beauty. The difference of opinion, and the extreme passion to defend it is what makes this sport the most awesome thing on the planet.
Whether you're a gangster park skier, some gypsy street hippy, a mountain man with a snow-covered beard or a bad-ass GS racer...
We're all skiers.
