Let’s talk about the ads in BMX magazines. We all know how they got there. A company bought the space, paid a photographer to shoot 1 or more photos, then paid a designer to assemble the page. And I’m sure most of you are fine with that, myself included. But in the publishing world, advertisers aren’t just paying for that 1 page ad, there’s more to it than that. Check the “featured products” section in the nearest issue of Ride BMX, then check the rest of the magazine to see if the products being showcased are being sold by companies who advertise in that issue. Check out the roadtrip features in any magazine; are those companies advertising? Is the dude on the cover of the magazine sponsored by a company who advertises? There are exceptions (Garrett Byrnes was on the cover of Ride a few months ago), but the answer to all these questions is usually, yes.
Do you find that offensive? It’s kind of a slippery slope. On one hand, it’s just another way for the magazine to provide value to the companies who supply the ad dollars that allow the publication to exist. On the other hand, it sort of shits on the notion of equality most of us would like to imagine exists in our sport. The idea that a photo of an amazing trick might get passed over in favor of a worse photo that features a rider with the right sponsors, sucks. But anyone who knows a little bit about how the BMX industry works, knows that whoever is forking over money every month can exert a lot of control over content. The same thing happens all the time online too, although often in very different ways because the internet is inherently less monopolistic than print.
Transworld Snowboarding (which you probably already know, is owned by the same publisher as Ride BMX) ran into a gigantic shitstorm recently when the cover of an issue (above) featured an obviously digitally altered Ballpark Franks logo on the cover, which you can only assume Ballpark paid for. Mike Berard wrote up a great feature on the controversy and he asks all the questions that this situation prompts one to ask. I’m not casting judgement on BMX magazines, it’s hard times on all fronts and they have to do what they have to do to survive even if it means putting some of their journalistic integrity in jeopardy. But this is the kind of thing that you should all be aware of and pay attention to since it’s YOUR hard earned dollars that these companies are after. If you don’t like the things that either the advertisers or the publications themselves are doing, vote with your wallet. The integration of advertising and journalism is only going to get worse.
Thanks to Jared Souney for linking me to Mike’s article.