It’s 1/2 Woman Crush Wednesday, 1/2 Way Back Wednesday. Back in 2011 Nike gave us Leave a Message, which they marketed as surfing’s first all-female high performance surf film. Carissa Moore was on the verge of her first world title, her and Lakey Peterson were still teenagers, and Monyca Byrne-Wickey (yes, Byrne-Wickey) wasn’t married yet. Life was good thanks to the latter, and a lot has changed since then.
At the time an all-women’s film focused solely on surfing, and good surfing at that, rather than selling us the sex and girls in bikinis bit, was a groundbreaking concept. Nike had owned Hurley since 2002, but was making a serious push to enter the surf market as a brand itself, and plenty of people didn’t like it. The usual moans and groans came about selling out and the idea that any company could now buy its way into surfing if their pockets were deep enough. And instead of the biggest sports label on the planet milking surf culture for what it was worth, they introduced an idea into the surf world that had made Just Do It such a wildly successful lifestyle brand: they marketed female athletes as actual athletes. Strong, tremendously talented and fearless in their element, but still feminine. This wasn’t anything new to Nike, but it was in surfing. If just for for that alone, we were lucky to have Nike in the fold. And I’d like to think perceptions and excitement about women’s surfing, just surfing in general, has moved in a positive direction because of it.
Now, I’m not going to pretend the playing field is level, that the ladies are making as much money as the guys on tour, or that their sex appeal isn’t a massive piece of the money making machine. But just flip back, watch Leave a Message, and tell me it isn’t/wasn’t refreshing to see something that really is just focused on showcasing some of the best surfers on the planet. We get Carissa towing in, Laura Enever takes a beating on a couple of heavy ones, Coco Ho rips…and Lakey! Lakey Peterson had a brand new driver’s license at the time and you could already tell she was going to be something special. Nike kind of nailed it.
