RUSTY=anti-sup?

[pdxmike]

headmount, for the most part I don't disagree with you. My opinion is the creators of the ad were hoping for the reaction they have gotten here and are very stoked about it. This will no doubt deliver the intended results of increased sales from their demographic. They have succeeded at pissing off all the old sup dudes and are now heroes. I feel it would have been better if this weak ad was laughed at or even better yet ignored. I think this thread has made them very happy with all the attention.

RL--I think you're overestimating the impact of messages in this forum on the company's customers.  Hardly any of them read standupzone.  Posts here have made their way onto surfer forums, but even those are not read--or especially remembered for long--by a very high percentage of potential Rusty customers.  

Plus, anyone who thinks Rusty Clothing is a hero for printing the ad would have thought that regardless of how anyone reacted.   There was no huge wave of publicity that happened because of posts here that wouldn't have happened anyway, and in any event the whole story wasn't very big period.

Zone posts also helped generate activity behind the scenes that wasn't visible to Rusty customers--complaints to Rusty by dealers, for instance.  I doubt that activity was viewed by the company as "the reaction they were hoping for".  

Plus there's a point where if you think something someone is doing is wrong, you say so, without concerning yourself with every possible ramification.

[Tom]

Just saw this on the surfer magazine forum. Those guys are dicks, but some have a bit of talent

[PonoBill]

Not really--that takes about five minutes to do if you have the right little bit o' software. You can do it as an animated GIF and turn it into your avatar if you liked.

[LaPerouseBay]

These three comments seem fitting on the national holiday of one of our greatest Americans.  Thanks guys.
  

When people stand up and draw a line about violent behavior, I believe THAT is growing a set.

Speaking up and taking action takes balls.

Plus there's a point where if you think something someone is doing is wrong, you say so, without concerning yourself with every possible ramification.

Mug shot


"I have a dream"


300,000 followed his casket in Atlanta

[CMC]

I guess I'll get my chance to see how Aussie SUPers react to this ad.  Just read that Waves Mag is also running the same ad in the next issue.

My reaction will be the same as usual, whatever!  The topic briefly ran on the Aussie SUP forum and dissapeared in a day or so.

Let's see what happens when the Ad goes to print in our own country..........

[claro]

Seems like Rusty's not alone in failing at shock advertising:

http://www.theinertia.com/business-media/shock-surf-ads-martin-luther-king-black-sale-rusty-sup-ad/

Did you see the MLK sale on black products? Two prime examples of controversial ads that don't quite function...

[LaPerouseBay]

Did you see the MLK sale on black products? Two prime examples of controversial ads that don't quite function...

Great stuff from Zack's article:

I’m sure Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a proponent of good deals, but he was also an advocate of careful, unity-driven consideration. Dr. King once said, “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”



MLK, the only person not elected president of the United States, with a federal holiday.  

Apology for the ad?  Sorry, Thalia Surf, too little, too late.  


  

[Rockbottom]

I realize that this deep into a thread it will probably get lost but I just thought I'd add another perspective.   My first impression was "WTF"  and blah blah blah....   but I just remembered A you tube video I saw  a while back that was along the same lines.
    As an avid marsh kayaker I relish paddling serene waters where the only sounds are of wildlife and and a distant motorboat.   Every paddler of this mindset that I know,  loaths a jetski screaming through our solitude throwing up spray and spooking the fish we are stalking.   While I have little other than contempt for these folk, they have every right to use the water that we paddlers do.   
     The video I am referencing shows a paddler using a heat seeking  RPG to rid an otherwise calm waterway of an obnoxious jetski.    While viewing this video made me laugh and echo the sentiment,  it in no way compelled me to perform any act of violence or vandelism to a jetski or its owner. 
     Just a thought...

[Strand Leper]

I guess I'll get my chance to see how Aussie SUPers react to this ad.  Just read that Waves Mag is also running the same ad in the next issue.

My reaction will be the same as usual, whatever!  The topic briefly ran on the Aussie SUP forum and dissapeared in a day or so.

Let's see what happens when the Ad goes to print in our own country..........

Wow, I thought that our friend at Rusty clothing was "pulling the ad?"  I guess he was just "pulling" our (legs)?

Tim

[pdxmike]

I guess I'll get my chance to see how Aussie SUPers react to this ad.  Just read that Waves Mag is also running the same ad in the next issue.

My reaction will be the same as usual, whatever!  The topic briefly ran on the Aussie SUP forum and dissapeared in a day or so.

Let's see what happens when the Ad goes to print in our own country..........

Wow, I thought that our friend at Rusty clothing was "pulling the ad?"  I guess he was just "pulling" our (legs)?

Tim

My guess is that Rusty was happy to throw in that they were "pulling the ad" because they weren't planning to run it for a second time in any publications anyway.

They just didn't count on anyone here noticing that they were still running it in Australia, or Europe, or wherever else.  Even if they claim they tried to stop it in Australia, but it was too late, that doesn't explain why they still have it on their own website.  Clearly they aren't sorry they ran it.

People can debate whether the ad is appropriate or not, or whether people are overreacting or not.  But there is no debate that Charlie Setzler didn't have the guts to defend the ad if he thought it was acceptable, or to take responsibility if he thought it was wrong.  He's trying to play both sides, just as Rusty is trying to be a badass core brand that you can also buy at J.C. Penney.

CMC's post is a perfect example of what someone--I think PonoBill--said about the internet and social networks making it impossible for companies to get away with lies. 

[CMC]

Just for interest sake for you Mike.

Check this post on waves magazine reagrding the Ad with comments from Rusty.


http://wavesmag.com.au/wordpress/2011/01/rusty-stirs-the-states/

[juandoe]

At least I learned a new word today.  Do Aussies use the word "whining" as well?  Is it all replaced with "whinging?"

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/whinging

On another note, do Aussies use closed captioning to watch British movies/TV?  I can hardly understand 'em.  I asked some Brits and they say they don't need CC for American media.

[pdxmike]

CMC--thanks.  It's interesting to see a perspective from the other side of the world. 

Two comments: 

1) the guy who responded at the end of the column talked about all the violence in the U.S.--violent movies, violent games, etc.--as a reason people shouldn't care about a cartoon.  The columnist made the same point, asking why people with millions of firearms should care about it.  But to me, the prevalent violence here is a reason why I DO care about it, and why I wanted the company to know that I cared.  It's also a reason why I could see the ads not getting much negative response in Australia, because of the different cultural context. 

2) it's one more bit of proof--for anyone not yet convinced--that Rusty's "apology" was a sham.  Like I said earlier, the company could have defended the ad if it thought it was fine, or taken responsibility and really apologized if it thought it was wrong.  But instead, it took the cowardly, dishonest way out--pretending to apologize, saying they were pulling the ads, then continuing to run them. 

If Rusty had defended its ads, at least it would have shown some honesty.  But by responding as it did, the company just comes off as pathetic, regardless of what anyone feels in regard to the ad itself.   

[PonoBill]

A. Who cares what someone else thinks about our reaction? I find it almost painfully contradictory for someone to whine about my whining. I don't care what country they're from.

B. Pretty much everyone who posted here understood clearly that the issue wasn't whether or not the ad was funny, it was does it piss you off that a company tries to exacerbate the tension between surfers and SUPers to sell board shorts.

This isn't a Mom and Pop surf shop, it's not some counterculture rebels. It's a big multi-brand company complete with a weasel president that babbles PR-speak.

The bullshit about American violence is funny though. Yup, we're all alike, just like all Australians are genetic criminals that wear hats with corks tied to the brim, get drunk every night and beat up their women.

[juandoe]

The bullshit about American violence is funny though. Yup, we're all alike, just like all Australians are genetic criminals that wear hats with corks tied to the brim, get drunk every night and beat up their women.

Crikey!  I thought all Australians sing songs like "Mashed Bananas, Mashed Bananas" or "Wiggly Party."  Jeff Fatt (purple Wiggle) is a surfer, maybe he will weigh in on the Aussie viewpoint.  He looks great for a 57 yo.