K2 Alliance Ad misleading?

[BeSki]

Thanks Snowhot! I'll look for the women's 170.

 

[SnowHot]

I have to agree with you. I just don't see the sexism in a woman taking care of her own skis.
I feel like they're showing a woman taking ownership in her whole ski experience from prepping her powder skis for a wicked good day.

RE: Mindbender 88 Ti, I have it in a 170 and it definitely feels differently than the men's versions which is actually the 90. You should find the 170 in the 88 if you can.

I'd like to add to this portion of what I said...
If they had the woman ironing clothing or packing a cooler while the man loads the car up, I'd be thinking differently.

 

[Jilly]

Are these 2 pages, side by each? Or do you flip the page to see the other. Because I'm not seeing were the "red" page is guy. That's why I want to know the placement of the pages.

 

[WaterGirl]

Im not convinced its a woman on the first page. If it was and entirely female two page layout I would not have posted this. Perhaps I'll reach out to K2 to verify.

@Jilly the Red page is on left with the word MINDBENDER in shadow behind the skier.
The page on the right is MINDBENDER 115c ALLIANCE with woman ironing.
Every other two page layout in the magazine is a man on left woman on right.
Nordica, Backcountry, Peak have similar layouts.

I find the responses here really interesting, and perhaps I'm coming from a different sports background where equipment maitanince is just part of the sport, and not something to be proud of, but rather routine and perhaps even a bit of drudgery.

For example - to me this ad could be similar to a surfboard company featuring Kelly Slater on one page hitting the lip on a overhead wave and Lakey Peterson waxing the board on the beach on the other. Or a saddle company with a man jumping a triple oxer on a Grandprix course on one page and woman cleaning the saddle back at the barn on the other page. This is what I equate this ad to: man ripping /woman doing chores. Certainly there is a level of pride of maintaining equipment, nothing like polishing tack and having things perfect. However, when I saw this I equated the male page to be actually "using" the ski and woman to be just doing a "chore."

 

[liquidfeet]

I am finding it fascinating how so many people here enjoy waxing their skis. I assume tuning them beforehand goes with that. I don't enjoy this task. I always have other things that need to be done and it seems annoying that I have to go down to the basement and clear a space, set the tools and supplies out, bring the skis down, sharpen the edges then polish them, maybe plane the sidewalls before that if they turn out to be in the way of a good sharpening, mess with the waxes and the iron, walk the skis upstairs and outside to cool down, bring them back in and back down to the basement for oh dear the scraping. Then sweep up the wax that's gotten all over the place. Then take the nicely done skis upstairs and pack them into the car, and go back down to put away the tools. The iron is usually not cool enough to put away. I don't drink beer while doing all this. I'd never get it done if I did.

At least now I know what goes on in the minds of the people who are enjoying it.

 

[ski diva]

I am finding it fascinating how so many people here enjoy waxing their skis. I assume tuning them beforehand goes with that. I don't enjoy this task.

I'm with you. I have a season-long tuning/waxing package at my local shop. They take care of ski maintenance for all my skis so I don't have to.

Let me add another layer into this mix: if it was a guy waxing the skis, would we be saying, 'oh, don't they think a woman can maintain her skis?' Just a thought.

I tend to think it's a woman skiing, too, since the background is all pink, the text along the side is pink, and the skis were designed by the K2 Women's Alliance. Granted, though, it's not clear. Maybe that's intentional.

Another thing to keep in mind: the woman doing the waxing is quite possibly a model, not a ski tech. So she may not be holding the iron properly, though someone should have corrected her, if it's wrong.

 

[ski diva]

I realize it's tempting to sidetrack this discussion (heck, I did it myself), but we have a whole thread discussing DIY ski waxing (another one here) so we can continue talking about that there, if anyone's interested.

 

[SnowHot]

Looks like a regular iron to me. I looked online for wax irons with this shape and couldn't find anything close. But people do use these sometimes. Can anyone decode the writing on it?

Do you hold your iron across the ski surface like this woman is when you wax? I don't. I point it the way the ski is pointed to use the entire hot surface, moving the iron back and forth along the length of the ski.
It looks like she's in a ski shop, and she's wearing an apron to make it look like she does this all the time. I'm not convinced.
View attachment 11201

I don't know if its a clothing iron or a waxing iron and I really don't care.
If its a clothing iron, then the image is all the better.
Its saying, "I don't need this for ironing clothing because I don't need it for that, but I do need to wax my skis because tomorrow's a powder day!"

 

[Belgiangirl]

Tough one. I can understand it irks people that the ad doesn't put the emphasis on skiing itself, but on the other hand I think it's cool to see a woman taking care of her own gear. I wax sideways like the woman depicted, btw - my iron is pretty compact, it doesn't completely cover the whole base of some of my ski's if I'd hold it the other way.

What I find more disappointing about the new mindbenders, is the missed opportunity of making a truly unisex ski line. Do you really need a 85 and an 85 alliance? A 90C and 90C alliance? A 99ti and a 98ti alliance? And so on... That was the first thing that came to my mind when I saw this new line. I really don't get why so many ski companies still feel the need to keep that strict separation between men's and women's models.

That being said, I did love the 90ti I demoed earlier this season, curious to try out some other mindbender models!

 

[contesstant]

Waxing skis is definitely relaxing and cathartic. But if you haven't done it, try grooming a horse. Nothing like it in the world! And grooming the cat is NOT an acceptable replacement.

I don't find the ad offensive at all.

 

[ski diva]

MOD NOTE: So as not to sidetrack the discussion, I moved all the talk about waxing/tuning skis to this thread. Feel free to continue talking about that there.

 

[Skier31]

While I like to take care of my own equipment, I have difficulty with tools and mechanical items. I have taken numerous classes on bike repair and maintenance and just don't get it. My husband is an excellent ski tuner and has tried to teach me to do basic ski tuning and waxing and I just don't get it. It is frustrating for me to rely on others but until I retire and have more time to devote to learning and doing, it is not going to happen. I wish I could do my own stuff and admire people who can. We all have different skills.

While I think more thought could be put into marketing to send a message to female equipment purchasers, I really don't read anything one way or the other from the ads.

I have bought ugly skis because I like how they ski. I hate the color of my boots but they are the best boot for me.

 

[SkiBam]

I don't know if its a clothing iron or a waxing iron and I really don't care.
If its a clothing iron, then the image is all the better.
Its saying, "I don't need this for ironing clothing because I don't need it for that, but I do need to wax my skis because tomorrow's a powder day!"

So true. I own one iron, which has not ironed clothes in years. It's just used now for waxing skis. (Don't ask me about the state of my clothes!)

 

[sibhusky]

Here's another who thought, "serious skier", when they showed her doing her own equipment maintenance. And this is something I pay attention to. In Ski Diva's books, the thing that irked me was the character not only didn't do her own maintenance, it was never mentioned she took her skis in to have others do it. The fact that I noticed and it bugged me should tell you something....

 

[SnowHot]

Im not convinced its a woman on the first page. If it was and entirely female two page layout I would not have posted this. Perhaps I'll reach out to K2 to verify.

@Jilly the Red page is on left with the word MINDBENDER in shadow behind the skier.
The page on the right is MINDBENDER 115c ALLIANCE with woman ironing.
Every other two page layout in the magazine is a man on left woman on right.
Nordica, Backcountry, Peak have similar layouts.

I find the responses here really interesting, and perhaps I'm coming from a different sports background where equipment maitanince is just part of the sport, and not something to be proud of, but rather routine and perhaps even a bit of drudgery.

For example - to me this ad could be similar to a surfboard company featuring Kelly Slater on one page hitting the lip on a overhead wave and Lakey Peterson waxing the board on the beach on the other. Or a saddle company with a man jumping a triple oxer on a Grandprix course on one page and woman cleaning the saddle back at the barn on the other page. This is what I equate this ad to: man ripping /woman doing chores. Certainly there is a level of pride of maintaining equipment, nothing like polishing tack and having things perfect. However, when I saw this I equated the male page to be actually "using" the ski and woman to be just doing a "chore."

'FWIW, I think the add is not well thought out because so much of it is vague because its covered with the waxing or words, but id doesn't matter to me if the first page is male or female, I still don't see it as offensive or sexist because she's waxing.
Now, if she was an esthetician, waxing,.......well....

 

[Jenny]

So true. I own one iron, which has not ironed clothes in years. It's just used now for waxing skis. (Don't ask me about the state of my clothes!)

Lol, I just don't buy anything that needs ironing!

 

[WaterGirl]

UPDATE: I had @ski diva change the title of this thread - well b/c as @SnowHot pointed out the ad was a bit vague and, well for me misleading and apparently once you know who the skier is its not what I thought in the beginning ;) My assumptions were incorrect. (Did I just say I was wrong?)

I've always been a fan of K2 customer service via the phone, and as I have posted previously really easy to get assistance when you call. I asked the customer service rep who checked with marketing and YUP, its a woman on both pages - he verified skiing images on both pages are Amie Engerbretson. I also believe she is the person waxing, if you look her up, appears to be the one in same. (So she's is a model / sports person/ and well, who knows what her waxing credentials are )

I just wish K2 would have put more effort in to the cohesiveness of the the two pages.
Or maybe they wanted it to be vague so that you thought skier was whoever you wanted it to be. They did clarify that Mindbender is MEN and Mindbender Alliance is WOMEN - so why mix it up in the ad if it is a woman skiing? And why not give credit to the female skier? Well as @Susan L pointed out, marketing worked, it got us talking about it..... albeit not positively at first.....

 

[VickiK]

Thanks for clearing up the mystery skier!

 

[mustski]

I also iron my skis way more often than my clothes! I do have a dedicated ski iron but I hold it the same way as in the pic. It's just more comfortable in my hand that way.

 

[vanhoskier]

I also iron my skis way more often than my clothes! I do have a dedicated ski iron but I hold it the same way as in the pic. It's just more comfortable in my hand that way.

It doesn’t matter which way you hold the iron to wax skis...no matter the type of iron. It just needs to melt the wax and get the wax penetrated into the base.