Julia Mancuso Sells (Out) For Lange Boots

[ski diva]

Saw this today in FirstTracks.com:

Remember the "Lange Girl" posters featuring scantily-clad ladies in ski boots that have adorned many a ski shop and bedroom wall over the past 30 years? There's a new Lange Girl series ready for production, but she may not be what you're expecting.

Lange sees the future of the Lange Girl as a celebration of some of the finest women skiers in the world. "Julia Mancuso is the first ever 'Lange Girl Athlete' and will be the subject of posters, images and an ongoing effort to showcase exceptional women ski athletes who are also attractive and inspiring," according to Lange's Brand Director, Tait Wardlaw.

"The Lange brand is all about the dynamic, athletic aspect of skiing," Wardlaw continues. "Around the world, we have some amazingly talented women athletes who deserve recognition for their skiing ability as well as for their ability to inspire other women to make the most of their natural abilities as well.

"And Julia Mancuso is the perfect person to introduce the new 'Lange Girl Athlete' program because she's both an incredible athlete as well as a fun, outgoing, attractive young lady. She obviously lives in part to compete and win, but she also lives to surf, to play and to have fun. In our minds, that's a very healthy outlook for all of us," Wardlaw concludes.

Mancuso echoes Wardlaw's comments. "I'm honored to be named the first ever 'Lange Girl Athlete'," she says. "I think its pretty cool, and I think its great that we all realize that women can be both hard-core athlete as well as fun and feminine women."

Lange will unveil the Julia Mancuso Lange Girl Athlete Poster at the SIA Show in Las Vegas and in ISPO in Munich as the end of January. Viewers can go to Dynastar and Lange's pro staff website, Prostaff.Dynastar.com to vote for their favorite version.

Mancuso will also have a hand in choosing future Lange Girl Athletes and helping to define the program as it develops.

 

[RachelV]

Hm. Actually kind of looks like more of the same:
https://www.skiracing.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4457&Itemid=2

The new poster will be one of the images you see if you go to https://72.32.140.194/html/gallery.php and scroll down to "Vote: New Lange Girl" under "Galleries".

So... I guess the change is that the half-naked women in the posters now also happen to be skiers? I mean, I'm all for attractive female skiers, but it would be nice if the focus of the posters could be the skiing rather than the attractiveness.

Or, how about some "Lange Guys" posters? I could get behind that as well. ;)

 

[ski diva]

Are you sure that isn't one of the old posters?

 

[BatGirl]

Because apparently it's still all about how good you look instead of how good you are. What a disappointment. :( Part of me says shame on her for being a part of it while the rest of me says a paycheck's a paycheck.

 

[Quiver Queen]

Nope, these pics are of Julie Mancuso all right. I especially liked the one in front of the fire on a skin rug wearing nothing but red lace panties and bra....oh yeah, she had Lange boots on, too. I clicked on the 'contact' link & sent an e-mail giving my opinion of their "new" more athletic-oriented marketing strategy. Maybe more self-respecting women (Divas?) will do the same.

 

[ski diva]

Well then what's the deal here? I am truly disappointed. Here I was thinking, "Kudos to Lange for finally recognizing women for their on-the-hill skills." I take it all back!

 

[Lola]

Yeah - and did you check out the video? They have Julie in a bikini in a hot tub with her Lange boots on. Well, you can rest assured that I will never ski the boots as long as they continue to exploit Julie for her body and not her skiing ability. Gee - I wonder if we'd ever see Tommy Moe or Bode Miller in a hot tub or their underwear selling ski boots?

 

[Lilgeorg]

I wonder why Julie did the ads. I know about $$$ but I too would rather see her skiing the boots. I don't really buy boots to wear in the hot tub.

 

[Quiver Queen]

You don't wear your ski boots in the hot tub???? But, I thought that was the way the "heat molding" is supposed to work!

 

[ski diva]

ROTFLMAO!!!!!

Good one, QQ!!

 

[liquidfeet]

Gee - I wonder if we'd ever see Tommy Moe or Bode Miller in a hot tub or their underwear selling ski boots?

I wouldn't mind seeing those guys in a hot tub with only their ski boots on. What a laugh that'd be!

 

[SnowHot]

Yeah - and did you check out the video? They have Julie in a bikini in a hot tub with her Lange boots on. Well, you can rest assured that I will never ski the boots as long as they continue to exploit Julie for her body and not her skiing ability. Gee - I wonder if we'd ever see Tommy Moe or Bode Miller in a hot tub or their underwear selling ski boots?

Boxers or Briefs?;)

I wouldn't mind seeing those guys in a hot tub with only their ski boots on. What a laugh that'd be!

There's just something really wrong with this image.

 

[ski diva]

There's a tread about this over at EpicSki now. Interesting to see what the other half thinks.

Here's what I posted:

I think this sort of poster doesn't do justice to her or any other woman skier. While it's true she's a beautiful woman with a killer body -- one I'm sure she works very hard to maintain -- it'd be nice if Lange showed her actually (gasp) using the boots instead of posing in them half-naked. This sort of thing diminishes her talent, her athleticism, and her tremendous achievements. Isn't the fact that she's JULIA MANCUSO enough to sell Lange boots?

 

[pinto]

There's a tread about this over at EpicSki now. Interesting to see what the other half thinks.

Here's what I posted:

.... This sort of thing diminishes her talent, her athleticism, and her tremendous achievements.....

Yeah, that's kind of where I am. I realize that guys like to look at women. That's how they are wired.

But any stupid bimbo can pose in her panties. Not just anyone can win a gold medal.

So long as she feels completely comfortable with what she's doing, I'm fine with it. But during last year's Moats thread, someone (sorry, can't remember who) posted studies showing that women athletes are often ambivalent about doing it.

I saw an interesting QnA with Anna Kournikova where this exchange took place:

----- Q: How would you feel if, 20 years from now, your name was more closely associated with Maxim magazine than Sports Illustrated?

A: I can't worry about what they're saying 20 years from now. I made those decisions ... well, I didn't really make those decisions, someone else made them for me. I was 18 back then, and I had managers and God knows who else advising me. Those decisions were made under certain circumstances, and I don't regret a thing that happened. If those things hadn't happened, I wouldn't be the person that I am today. -----

I think there is a glimpse there of something that she then takes back. She absolves herself of the choice "she" made to become more of a pinup than an athlete. Then she quickly returns to positive spin, but I found it poignant. Maybe I'm reading too much into it ... but Anna became a total joke. Now she just looks like a skank, and all anyone remembers her for is "never winning a singles title" and sucking at tennis.

I'm sorry, but that girl is an AMAZING athlete. She is incredibly fast. She was an excellent, excellent tennis player, and a very hard worker. She beat Steffi Graf on GRASS when she was 16. Injuries, poor coaching, and bad advice sunk her career.

And the sad thing is that she was a jock, obsessed with tennis, training for hours as a kid. Now she's just a has-been -- but you KNOW she would have traded it all for a Wimbledon title. Of course, she'll never admit it. Maybe when she gets old.

Now, I'm not comparing her to Julia Mancuso, not at all!! I've just always scoffed at the notion that such photos come out of some sort of feminism -- look, we're jocks AND we're ladies. Maybe in the past that was the case (in fact, certainly it was), but that doesn't hold water anymore. Just turn on beach volleyball or track and field, and you'll see some well-built jocks! Hell, Chrissie Evert showed us how it was done 30 some years ago.

Just call it what it is: men like to look at women in their panties.

 

[SnoBunny]

I made those decisions ... well, I didn't really make those decisions, someone else made them for me.

wow -- interesting interview, pinto! I remember being in high school and seeing guys with pin-ups of her in their lockers, and I never understood why she would've made that kind of decision for herself . . . I guess I see it now.

what really gets me is the responses that it's good to see a healthy woman's body and that she's a body-image role model. um, what? I see a healthy woman's body every day -- my own. I can't get my head around the response from some of the folks on epic that these pictures are really a public service.

 

[ski diva]

Just call it what it is: men like to look at women in their panties.

And that's the bottom line.

I agree completely that it's her own decision. But why would you want to be known for that when you're already known as a kick-ass skier? Hey, anyone can have their picture taken in their bra and panties. But who can win a gold medal?

I think Lange blew it. They have this fantastic spokeswoman they could've made a tremendous statement with and used in a way that did them both credit. Instead, they just went with "sex sells." What a disappointment.

 

[ski diva]

Commented on this in my blog today. If you're interested, go here.