Event photos courtesy of DC Shoes

Anastasia Silva looks at the politics of sponsorship in the big money world of skateboarding.

It's a hellishly hot late June day when the DC Tour bus rolls into the parking lot of Toronto's Docks club. Skateboarders sporting brand name attire rush the equally branded vehicle like a pack of hungry wolves that smell blood. The anxious crowd cheers like they are witnesses to the coming of the next messiah when their favourite DC Team skaters dismount to shake hands with their worshipers before taking to the ramps and rails.

Nearly 700 amateur skaters and fans turn up to watch and skate alongside their heroes - Ryan Dyrdek, Josh Kalis and Ryan Smith among them - at this, the Toronto stop on the DC Shoe Company's North American skate demo tour. The bus with the DC logo plastered on nearly every surface looms nearby as a testament to both skateboarding's massive popularity and its acceptance into the mainstream. But, to some, it's also a symbol of how skateboarding has sold out.

"Corporate sponsorship has helped skateboarding evolve to at least the point where it's now recognized in communities," says Cindy Mielke, Director of Marketing at skateboard clothing retailer West 49. "The cities are recognizing it so they can build public skate parks."

But Mielke says that skateboarding, which gained its rep for individuality through its counter-culture and punk rock roots, is in danger of following in the footsteps of snowboarding if it becomes an Olympic sport. "Sometimes corporate sponsorship brings sports to a level where it's a bit of a sell-out situation," she says. "Skateboarding's such an individualistic thing that to bring it to a level like the Olympics doesn't really make sense."

Ashlea Hunt, Events & Promotions Co-ordinator for Centre Skateboard Distribution, DC's Canadian marketing company, says that when people look at corporate sponsorship in skateboarding, they are confused by the terms 'corporate' and 'core' sponsors. She says that DC remains a core sponsor because, although it is the elite brand in skateboarding and the number one-selling shoe brand, "kids can identify with DC as a mainstream brand that still protects the integrity of the sport.

"When you're aligned with the right brands and the right industry, you're shooting with the same objective. You know you're in it for the passion and love of skateboarding," she says. "But it's corporate sponsors like McDonald's that are just in it for the money or the trend that detract from the money that should go toward the sport."

DC Team member Ryan Smith, 19, says that the tour promotes skateboarding in a positive way by giving "kids a chance to see pros that they otherwise would never see outside of videos and magazines." But Smith, who has been skating DCs his whole life, acknowledges that big money sponsorship can hurt skateboarding if it's a sponsor like McDonald's or Mountain Dew.

"DC supports skateboarding one hundred per cent," he says of the biggest corporate sponsor that the sport has seen to date, "while companies like McDonald's are exploiting it by making their main objective to sell a product through something that's considered trendy."

Skateboarding has made the leap from counter-culture activity to trendy sport in recent years thanks to big-name events like the X-Games, and kids are spending like crazy on what they perceive to be the best brands, often changing logos as fast as a newborn does diapers. "Brand loyalty depends on what company someone's favourite skateboarders ride for," says Smith. "If that person changes companies then his fans will possibly change their brand loyalty, too."

West49 manager-in-training and skater Paul Johnston, 30, chalks the frequent changes in brand loyalty up to kids' inherent fickleness. "It's all image," he says. "In fact, there are... minor differences between the companies. It's just the way the products are marketed. They have their hooks in this class of kids who believe that's the way to go."

Hamilton resident and avid skater Justin Hawes, 19, says that the way some corporations have marketed skateboarding has allowed kids to be fickle about the products they choose. "Last year, their closets were full of DC. This year, it's something else," he says. "A lot of kids have a favourite skater who's sponsored by a certain company, so that's what they'll wear 'cause that's what they always see. It's sad that a lot of the smaller companies that do produce good products and do produce good clothing get pushed aside because the kids aren't aware of them."

Pro DC team skater Colin MacKay says that skateboarding has nothing to do with corporate sponsorship. "DC's a big company in skateboarding, but when I started skateboarding, there wasn't a company that was one-twentieth the size of DC," he says. "It's a bit bigger now, but it's not about brand recognition and all that. It's about skateboarding. It's just cool that there are more kids skating and doing what they love to do."

Which is not to say that money is not part of the equation. According to Skipressworld.com, DC, whose total sales exceeded US$100 million in the year ended December 31, 2003, recently agreed to be acquired by surf-apparel maker Quiksilver. DC will receive an initial payment of US$56 million in cash and 1.6 million restricted shares of Quiksilver common stock.

Smith says that some people will always allow themselves to be lured in by money. "My whole life, all I wanted to ride were DCs," he says. "But some people would rather take the money for different reasons, and there's money out there, and money talks."

Props to unsponsored Halifax skater Geordie Vaughan-Bell (above) for letting Access shoot (and edit) his deck - and borrow his camera! Photo by Andrew Clark

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