"Doug Lloyd" <dalloyd_at_telus.net> wrote: > Of course, as per usual, Paddler took the bit-of-a low-brow approach and > highlighted the accomplished bunch as "Psycho Sea Kayakers," but I suppose > this fits in with the hard-core WW contingent of their readership. All in > all, not a bad issue. The yuppie-adjusted advertising doesn't bother me. In response to Old Greybeard: > >When I opened the first copy of ACA's Paddler magazine my new membership > brought me...Glitz, glam, intense bright ads, packaging for its marketing > impact, and nobody lookin' gritty or dirty, smelly or sweaty.< I guess I was a yuppie at one time, although my buying habits belie the notion. Got nothing against commerce or bright stuff. I buy things, and have a mango dry suit (but do not wear earrings or have piercings or 'toos). Objectively, Paddler needs to sell ads to publish. And, the high-dollar-return merchandise sector is new paddlers, not folks who already have their gear. So, it is no wonder that what I see in magazines is not pitched at me -- I have pretty much all the gear I need, and paddling for me mainly demands a differing menu (and Metamucil in my future, I bet). What's interesting to me is that the paddling ventures I most like to read about or hear about are serious collisions with Ma Nature. Epics, as in, "The polar bear decided we were lunch -- so we left." Or, "Dumping ourselves ashore through small surf, we spent the night huddled under shelter, listening to the wind and hoping our boats did not get blown away." An illustration: Doug and I had a really pleasant paddle when he visited two years ago -- a bluebird day on tame, lovely water surrounded by shores of verdant, craggy beauty. But, to turn his crank, he needed to go out the next day and paddle through the waves on the nastiest "point" within 200 miles: the North Jetty of the Columbia River. Small wonder I react to the airbrushed view of our "sport" which merchandisers think they need to use to sell stuff. I'd strap 'em on Doug's hull for a few days and then see what ads they produce ... or maybe sentence them to a couple hours of the "air" surrounding a skanky wet suit to see what atmosphere it generated in their brains for an ad campaign. In plain language: the ads form depictions which are nothing like paddling reality for most of us. But, if they sell gear, then they must be good, no? -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR (not on Metamucil ... yet) *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed May 21 2003 - 08:20:11 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:07 PDT