The world bodyboarding community is disappointed with Nike's latest ad "The Chosen", where surfing, BMX, skateboarding and snowboarding are presented as the future priorities of the brand in the extreme action sports field.
Bodyboarders believe Nike should have included prone riding in the advertising campaign and in the sponsoring plans. They can't understand why Pierre Louis Costes gets a sponsorship deal with Nike 6.0 on February 2010 and, one year later, bodyboarding is out of their A-list.
At the same time, boogie riders are frustrated when brands try to make money out of the sport without maintaining a steady support to athletes and contests.
The IBA World Tour has been revamped for good. There were plenty of management and logistic upgrades. The wave spots are carefully selected, there's live online broadcast and the prize money is appealing.
Riptide Magazine has also underlined a quote from Blogosurf's Guillaume. "They probably think bodyboarders are surfers who can't stand up on a board, which is wrong. Hence the necessity of media to promote bodyboarding, through its major athletes and the massive slabs that can only be ridden with a bodyboard".
The best bodyboarders in the world also believe that the International Surfing Association (ISA) should promote their sport more than it actually does. That would be a way of sticking sponsors for a longer period of time with competitors and world tour organizers.
Meanwhile, bodyboarding won't be part of "The Chosen", Nike's greatest adventure into extreme water sports. What will windsurfers and kitesurfers think of it?
Watch "The Chosen" video ad.