Sex Sells – The Girls of ISPO 2011

Have you lost the marketing war as soon as you resort to using sex? Quite possibly, but no one appears to have told the snowboard industry. As well as all the new 2011 – 2012 snowboard products, this year’s ISPO tradeshow in Munich has involved more gratuitous flesh than a night out in Newcastle. Perhaps inspired by the recent success of the Burton Love series and the Nidecker Pamela Anderson snowboard, we’ve seen a ton of brands using risque graphics (not to mention the odd promo girl) to shift their product. Heck, Ride have even turned their stand into a bonafide den of iniquity, hiring in a few of the local strippers to put on regular pole dance shows and handing out tokens for a live peep show in which the girls gyrate before the new boards and boots (and yes, that is as weird to look at as it sounds). It sure isn’t the most imaginative strategy, but as the crowds of folk spilling outside the Ride stand prove, sex still sells. Here’s a collection of the finest, fittest and filthiest offenders.