Burton Snowboards has a reputation for pushing the boundaries, but the Burlington company may have gone over the edge with two new product lines that have outraged women’s groups and anti-violence advocates.
One, called “Love,” features Playboy models in various stages of undress; the other, dubbed “Primo,” features graphic illustrations of hands being mutilated by scissors, a box razor and a pit bull. The company is selling “Primo” with the tag line, “Mutilate the mountain, then terrorize the streets.”
An email and phone campaign to register consumer disgust with the new products made its way to Seven Days today. Among the organizations that plan to contact Burton (or already have) are the Girl Scout Council of Vermont, the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, and S.A.F.E Alternatives, a national group that offers counseling and treatment advice to people who “self-injure.”
In an email to the company, one Colchester resident asked Burton, as “a leading producer of youth culture,” to “rethink” the new lines. “Is this what you want as ‘cool’ in our world? And why aren’t there nude males on any of the boards??”
An email response from Burton explained that the Playboy “limited edition” boards were created at the request of two professional snowboarders. “Both Burton and Playboy were founded on principles of individual freedom,” the response stated, “and the collaboration has resulted in boards that reflect this attitude.”
The company’s response also offered the opinion that the “Love” boards, which will be “fully wrapped with an 18+ age disclaimer,” are destined to become collector’s items.
While the Playboy line is misogynist and distasteful, the “Primo” boards are violent and outright disturbing. Stephanie Kaza, of the UVM President’s Commission on the Status of Women, called the bloody images “unconscionable” and pledged to help organize pressure on Burton.
We called Burton for comment, but the company has yet to respond. We’ll let you know what they have to say.
UPDATE: Editor’s Note: Opponents of the boards have started a Facebook group.
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Shana Frahm, Burton’s global PR director. Frahm forwarded two brief corporate statements on the “Love” and “Primo” lines and told me the company would have nothing else to say about the matter for now. Burton executives, she said, “were not available for comment.” I asked Frahm whether the company had received many complaints about the new product lines, but she declined to speak on the record.
Here are statements. I included hyperlinks to some recent press about the artists behind the new boards.
Burton/Playboy Love Collection
The Burton Playboy limited edition snowboards were created at the request of two of Burton’s professional snowboarders Mikkel Bang and Keegan Valaika. Both Burton and Playboy were founded on principles of individual freedom, and the collaboration has resulted in boards that reflect this attitude. The imagery on the boards is tastefully done, and we believe that they will be collector’s items. The 1000 snowboards will be fully wrapped with an 18+ age disclaimer to purchase.
PRIMO
Burton has a long history of working with artists on snowboard graphics. When collaborating with an artist, Burton does not restrict the artist’s freedom of expression. The Primo graphic was created by world-renowned skate artist Todd Bratrud, who has worked on projects for such companies as Vans, Volcom and Flip Skateboards. Burton is proud to collaborate with artists like Todd.
This article appears in Oct 1-7, 2008.
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Justin,re: “SERIOUS NEWS”: “Serious News” is the category we use to distinguish items like this from the weird and funny “news” items that also appear on Blurt.The all-caps style is Typepad’s, not ours. All the category heads appear that way.Just thought I’d clarify. It’s not really a judgment about the topic at (mutilated) hand.
Oh, c’mon, Meghan. If Burton made Nursing Mother Boards you’d find tell us that objectifying the beauty of motherhood leads to self mutilation or something. Besides, there’d probably be nipples involved. Oh, the horror! The fact is, Playboy and playboy bunnies have done more to liberate women AND men than the UVM President’s Commission on the Status of Women, or for that matter, the Girl Scout Council ever will. Did you know that Hefner specifically felt that sexual liberation was directly related to racial equality? You know, during the 60’s? If the pictures on Burton’s boards were by Tom of Finland, Burlington Libs would be beside themselves with rampant glee and pats on the back for their sex-positive, gay-friendly political-correctness, but it’s only thanks to straight sexual liberation that gay liberation is even possible. Tolerance is a two way street, or it isn’t really tolerance, eh?
I don’t work for Burton. I work for Back Brain Media and World-Around Records.I DO find it exceptionally funny that this post is categorized as “SERIOUS NEWS” in all caps, no less.
Um… I can’t believe that our defense of first amendment rights and advocacy of critical thinking skills leads you to conclude we are all employees of Burton. How terrifyingly daft.There is no specifically pro-Burton post here. You have imagined/projected that sentiment. We are criticizing the counterproductive method and frivolousness of the protest.
Obviously art does have a great ability to challenge and be non-confoming. Problem is these boards do none of that. To simply push off the criticism as bunched panty whining is to misconstrue the efforts of many folks to see all of our actions in this world, from the words we speak to the art we create as relevant. This includes the actions of some snowboarding company that happens to be right here in Burlington. The naked women images aren’t just offensive because they are naked women, but specifically because of the context they are in, the language that surrounds them (descriptions by burton) and the culture they are part of. It may be a tiny symptom, but then it becomes a teachable moment. To be opposed to these boards does not mean you are opposed to sex, bodies or women, rather the opposite. I wonder what a nursing mother line of boards would look like. Are those of you that feel you have to come out in favor of burton on the payroll or something? I think what might be more “cutting edge” and shocking than this line of boards would be the World Health Organization’s statistics on violence against women as an epidemic. Each opportunity we have to chuck the barbie doll, turn off the TV and send a letter to a purveyor of junk might as well be taken as not. It is more even more fun than voting. Sign me on as another deviant in favor of beauty over crap.
P.S. There is no such thing as a “box razor”. It’s called a box cutter or utility knife.P.P.S. Why is the Commission on the Status of Women concerned with the Primo boards when the hands being self-modified are clearly masculine?
Does Cabot make a variety of cheese for this type of wine?Seriously, people. Welcome to art. It’s not always peaceful and serene and non-offensive. Sometimes, it’s actually provocative, gritty, and unsafe. Like snowboarding, perhaps. You know, the actual audience for all of this?And if you’re worried about your children, maybe raise them to be critical thinkers instead of expecting Burton, the media, the government, and the music industry to help raise them for you.And I almost can’t even address the nude girl designs with any degree of seriousness. Misogyny? Really? What a blind leap off the PC diving board THAT one is! How utterly afraid of the flesh some of you are. One good fuck would probably kill you.Unbunch your panties. Get over the fact that art exists that you don’t happen to like. And suck it up, cupcake.
Most effective form of protest: don’t buy the boards.Least effective form of protest: give Burton’s new line of snowboards tons and tons of free publicity.Huh.
Since when is Playboy “misogynist”? Hugh Hefner did more to mainstream sex in America than any of these people complaining about Burton’s boards. Did anyone even look at the “offensive” images in question? Darn, not even a nipple.This is to say nothing of Hefner’s work regarding racial issues, or his support for the Democratic Party. Without Playboy and the ground Hefner broke, Mistress Maeve would certainly not be answering questions about spankings on 7 Days. Whether or not you appreciate his preferred vision of beauty, it’s thanks to him that we can now appreciate others publicly, including gay, bi, lesbian, fat, skinny, body-modded or whatever; never mind those poor, lamentable straight guys who like a boring old buxom blonde.As for the boards with the mutilated hands, well, I think they’re simply… stupid. Although, for the record, as someone who’s touched on the extreme body art world, I’ve seen far worse done out of sheer benign curiosity. Oh well, to each their own. Or do we really believe that? Maybe the left and the right aren’t so different after all.Oh, and Lavey was right about you pleasure-negative hippies.
Ugh… way to attack a symptom while ignoring the disease. How do consumer protestations come to focus on these idle matters when bigger and higher-impact issues are going on in 3D technicolor and surround-sound all the time? Anyone who has ever given a little girl a Barbie Doll or lets their kids watch non-educational TV should not be allowed to weigh in on this Burton thing. The early habituation of unrealistic, hyper-commercialized, heteronormative, white, conformist role models is more damaging to a developing child than a few stupid snowboards. Why does everyone ignore the giant, insidious elephant in the room and focus on this comparatively benign symbolic silliness?