Before we talk about skiing, let鈥檚 talk about science. Specifically what boobs are and where they come from. Let鈥檚 go back to the children鈥檚 television star Punky Brewster. In a , Punky and Co. tried to give themselves boobs through a combination of chest compressions and eating cheese puffs. Spoiler alert: it didn鈥檛 work.
You may be wondering why this is relevant. It鈥檚 because the same kind of low-logic body alchemy听attempted by a fictional听preteen who couldn鈥檛 even match her own socks听was just applied to a humorless, tone-deaf ski-resort ad.
In October, a flyer for Montana Snowbowl was posted听at five breweries and one college campus in Missoula. 鈥淒ear extra body FAT,鈥 it read. 鈥淵ou have two options: make your way into my BOOBS or get the F-OUT.鈥 Capitalization, theirs. Swishy feminine handwriting font, theirs. Indignation, pretty much everyone else鈥檚. In the corner, small block letters advertised season-pass deals.
The ads were pulled down after swift social-media听blowback against the concept and the execution. Snowbowl hadn鈥檛 authorized the flyers, the company said in a . (Snowbowl had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publishing this article.) It had actually rejected the idea, but Wes Spiker, the head of Spiker Communications, the ad agency that created it, said he thought it was cool and wanted to听see what happened if he tacked up a few fliers in the places he saw as his target market. (Spiker was already infamous for ads like one for the Brighton Ski Resort quad chair that poked at Utah鈥檚 Mormon heritage with the line 鈥.鈥) As for the breast-oriented ad, 鈥淚鈥檝e heard that comment most of my life. I鈥檓 hearing it from young women, from men. I work out and I hear it at the gym,鈥 he told us. Spiker said he was more worried about the f-word than the body-image connotations. 鈥淲e were totally off the mark, I got caught with my drawers down around my knees.鈥
Spiker issued an after the flyer blew up. 鈥淔irst, we apologize to anyone who took offense,鈥 he wrote. 鈥淚t was not my intent to offend anyone, we showed the line around to a handful of ad people and it was well received and thought to be very funny.鈥 And that鈥檚 when the internet got really mad. He (and Snowbowl听along with him) was ripped apart for being crass听and for the milquetoast apology. 鈥 鈥楾he younger audience鈥 here speaking and I鈥檓 highly offended. Try something other than sexualizing women for humor and profit,鈥 one Facebook user听wrote in reply.
It鈥檚 not just that the ad pandered grimly to outdated ideas of body image. It was that it听wasn鈥檛 even funny. It felt like one of those cheesy 鈥淭hank God for wine鈥 dish towels you see at low-grade gift shops, but much worse. Crass and embarrassingly cutesy at the same time, living somewhere deep in the swamp of toxic gender norms and body shame. Spiker said he thought the ad got caught up in a #MeToo听sea change, and the timing might be why the response flamed so hot. But the wider response was that it was tasteless regardless of broader social context.
Often jokes are funny because they play to a common language. There鈥檚 a snort of recognition in the punch line鈥攊t鈥檚 funny because it鈥檚 true. But by presumably implying that getting a season pass is a ticket to weight loss, and that weight loss is the way to target female consumers,听the only thing familiar was how trite the message felt. That conversation is tired. (It鈥檚 worth noting that Spiker has been doing Snowbowl鈥檚 ads since 1983.) It鈥檚 exhausting to be fed messages about what men think women think. That we鈥檙e simple and stupid, and make decisions based solely on appearance. That women are, categorically, insecure enough to be swayed by fears about our uncontrollable bodies. I鈥檓 tired of having to carve out defensible space around the idea that I might like to go skiing because it鈥檚 fun and feels good. No one I know skis to get skinny.
The Snowbowl ad feels particularly tone deaf now, when some brands in the outdoor space are doing a better job of appealing to female athletes. Outdoor Research flipped the script with its joyful, badass 鈥溾 video (about thumbing through Tinder and not getting any hits because the women were all out climbing, skiing, biking, and highlining). Blizzard Skis鈥櫶齨ew video campaign drills into the many reasons why we might want to ski鈥攖o be present, for the solitude, or to feel alive, not for weight loss. REI鈥檚 push for gender equity. The 听series from Scott highlights classic adventure porn with female protagonists. The North Face鈥檚 听centers on badasses like Margo Hayes and Ashima Shiraishi and urges women to push themselves harder in the outdoors. Black Diamond鈥檚 draws attention to a remarkable female climber. These are still ads, but they feel fun and true.
Next time, take a note from other outdoor companies. Instead of trying to shame women into skiing your slopes, inspire them.