Why should I pay $900+ to someone who won't treat me like a grown up?

[fatbob]

As the newest hype machine in skis gets fired up with some dubious puff pieces in the media - does truth or even a respect to consumers even matter in skiing?

We've seen marketing mumbo jumbo for ever in stuff like graphene, the undisclosed woo science behind stuff like Phantom and any number of bits of crap glued to topsheets even before we get to accessories etc etc. Never mind the cult like following Brand X gets until Brand Y comes along with something just slightly more "refined". By even talking or reading about hard goods are we saying "my wallet is open, spin whatever fairy story you like I just want to believe"?

 

[raytseng]

I think this gets down to what you choose as your relationship to "media"?
Is it a bit on us that one chooses to click through and read the info and articles that are pushed down towards you; rather than just going out and skiing?
I always have this crisis of conscious when you run across that guy on the lift still skiing on 20year old skis; Is that guy is completely clueless and I should bring up he might want to try new skis; or does HE really has his best life figured out and (some) ignorance is bliss?

That being said, the internet for being of the hype machine, as it is almost free to get the message out; consumers have been trained they shouldn't pay for information; yet the profits and ad/affiliate incentives are still the same for small entrepreneurs to flood the internet with content regardless of quality (see other rant thread on internet recipes, which is also the same as influencer "blogs"/ "reviews").
So yes, part of it is the HypeMachine is stronger then ever with more and more circular and rehashed garbage content paid for behind the scenes.

 

[scott43]

I think it's like bicycles, there is some fire there and it trickles down to people to improve the product. Meanwhile, don't believe the hype!

 

[Unpiste]

If you think sporting hard goods are bad, you should see the marketing on high end audio products.

It is a real problem, though. When I read a product blurb and it's making a bunch of wild claims using practically meaningless technical terms taken out of context, my first impression is going to be that the company behind the product isn't taking me seriously as a customer and I should probably look elsewhere. I assume that kind of marketing must work on enough people though, or it wouldn't be so common.

Some brands do avoid this kind of thing, and I'll certainly take notice and give preference to any product which clearly explains what it is and how/why it works, rather than relying on a bunch of meaningless mumbo-jumbo.

 

[tch]

Marketing blurb as product description just p*sses me off. Recently bought running shoes. "Differences" listed include EgoMax innersole vs InnerFlex innersole. MegaGrip outsole vs MaxTrac WTF???? NO sense of functional (if any) differences between these offerings.

 

[Tricia]

As the newest hype machine in skis gets fired up with some dubious puff pieces in the media - does truth or even a respect to consumers even matter in skiing?

We've seen marketing mumbo jumbo for ever in stuff like graphene, the undisclosed woo science behind stuff like Phantom and any number of bits of crap glued to topsheets even before we get to accessories etc etc. Never mind the cult like following Brand X gets until Brand Y comes along with something just slightly more "refined". By even talking or reading about hard goods are we saying "my wallet is open, spin whatever fairy story you like I just want to believe"?

I read this in your voice and it kind of made me think of a cinical comedy sketch.

I think many manufacturers find a way to build a better mouse trap and then rest on that until someone else surpasses them, then they have to find the next big thing.

As for blurbs and marketing, well.......that's how they get you (universal you, not YOU) to buy new stuff.

 

[fatbob]

I read this in your voice and it kind of made me think of a cinical comedy sketch.

Dunno what you mean

 

[Tricia]

Dunno what you mean

 

[bbbradley]

As the newest hype machine in skis gets fired up with some dubious puff pieces in the media - does truth or even a respect to consumers even matter in skiing?

Can you catch me up on who you are complaining about to decide if they are worthy of my vitriol too?

 

[David Chaus]

I wish I were worthy of vitriol.

 

[cantunamunch]

By even talking or reading about hard goods are we saying "my wallet is open, spin whatever fairy story you like I just want to believe"?

*shrug* it tells me the reader is bored - with themselves or their own successes or their own frustrations - and looking for a spark out of that boredom.

Even at current ski prices, for most of the readers on this forum new gear is a f*ckload cheaper and easier than 15-16 weeks of dedicated dryland training required to take their bodies beyond whatever stable point they've played from thus far.

 

[pchewn]

Yep, the Turbo Encabulator type of marketing has been with us forever and will continue in the future.

 

[Quandary]

Fatbob, your rants need to be a little more lucid to get the jist.

 

[HardDaysNight]

my wallet is open, spin whatever fairy story you like I just want to believe"?

Skiing, like golf for many people, is an aspirational activity in which the truth isn’t what the aspirants want to hear. Your comment, which is, of course, entirely accurate, reminds me of a friend of mine who bought a new, very expensive driver guaranteed to enable him to hit the ball further. I played a round with him and could discern no difference from his previous play. He asked if I thought his swing was improved by the new club and I had to say that I thought he looked much the same. He shrugged sadly and said, “You know I can play better than this! But I never have.”

 

[Philpug]

​

 

[Wilhelmson]

I guess I am missing the point of why people would read garbage only to complain about it. Oops I guess that’s the new first world passtime.

 

[tch]

Why read it? Because it purports to explain or describe the product.
Advertising is easily ignored; it’s when advertising blather stands in for product description.
I don’t know about you, but I usually want to know some actual specifics about an item before I decide whether to buy it or not.

 

[Tom K.]

Young Paul Reiser and Dudley Moore made my day in that sketch. Thanks @Philpug!

And.....complaining about marketing is like shouting at clouds. Not going to change a thing.

 

[Bill Miles]

Remember the Dynastars with the little red weight on the shovel and the following model had the little airflow gizmo? I had a pair of the latter.

 

[bbbradley]

I still don't know who I need to target my outrage at!

Skiing, like golf for many people, is an aspirational activity in which the truth isn’t what the aspirants want to hear. Your comment, which is, of course, entirely accurate, reminds me of a friend of mine who bought a new, very expensive driver guaranteed to enable him to hit the ball further. I played a round with him and could discern no difference from his previous play. He asked if I thought his swing was improved by the new club and I had to say that I thought he looked much the same. He shrugged sadly and said, “You know I can play better than this! But I never have.”

The golf analogy is interesting, though for some reason golf has a strong faction that gets pleasure in playing the most demanding clubs, even at the expense of their game. It would be like a vocal group of skiers saying that anything other than 1980s era skis are cheating.