I’ve long held a suspicion that a lot of people who buy surf brands don’t actually care about surfing. It’s not a suspicion, actually. If I knew how to prove these things, I’m sure I could. Some kind of market study that I don’t care enough to do.
But look! Look at Reef’s newest edit! It is focused almost entirely on travel, not surf. Just a few fleeting seconds of wave-riding, and minute upon slow-motion minute of sitting in boats and giggling and smiling and butts and just-about-to-be-surfing. The weird thing? Tia Blanco, Paige Maddison, and Brinkley Davies–the three smiling gigglers in the video–are all incredible surfers. Not that you’d know it from the video. While they are indeed great smilers and gigglers, they are much better at surfing.
They are primarily featured as really good smilers and fun-havers, which, I guess, is much easier to relate to than being really good surfers. Maybe if I buy a Reef bikini, I will have as much fun as they’re having. I’m almost certain it would make my butt look great, if nothing else.
I suppose the lack of surfing from three surfers is ok. Reef, after all, is selling clothes, not athletes. They’re selling a lifestyle that is related to surfing, but not necessarily attached. Everyone like laughing. Everyone is great at laughing and smiling and sitting in boats. Not everyone is great at surfing. But Tia and Paige and Brinkley are.
