Work, buy, die
March 14th, 2008 by Kilwag
People love to complain about the frequency of advertisements in Thrasher and Transworld. When I first started reading Thrasher one of the things I liked about it was pouring over all the small ads in the back for all the obscure companies. When I acquired a stack of old Skateboarder and Action Now, looking at all the ads for funky skateboards and accessories was more interesting than the actual articles. Now I’m going to propose that you check out a magazine full of nothing but advertisements. Concrete Wave has been publishing a Buyers Guide for some years now. If there’s one place where you can pour over ads for obscure companies making odd skateboard products, this is it. Take the ad for Paris Trucks (Insert Ms hilton rides hard joke), above right. Who knew there was such a company? OK, lot’s of people that probably travel in a different circle. It’s actually a funny advert. They’ve decided to make an environmentally progressive “green” skateboard truck. In order reduce the carbon footprint as much as possible, they’ve gone to the extreme lengths of not actually producing the truck. I am amused.
The buyers guide is a print issue with no less than four alternate covers. The one above features a rad Dan Bourqui photo of Steve Stedham. The format has been changed up a bit and as a result is a lot more interesting to look at. The print issue goes to subscribers and is free at skateshops that carry Concrete Wave. You can also download a 27MB PDF here.
March 14th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Lots of products in that there guide. I see an ad for an Irish pre-fab mini, but no ads for the Elephant Brand skateboard lock? Have they stopped making those or something? Oh wait, here’s their ad in the latest Juice — Duane & Jay locking up before breaking for lunch.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Over 160 advertisements!
Spreading the Stoke!
Shaka Bra!
March 14th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
uhh, it’s a Buyers Guide. That’s what it is. All ads.
March 14th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
they put things like this out b/c MTV proved to everyone that people will pay to watch commercials, or read them in this case.
March 15th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
do you see a price tag on it? do you ? nope…never has and never will unlike another buyer’s guide that’s out there
it’s a directory of 160 + companies and yes, there are some editorial pages in there - the centerspread painting took 3.5 months to complete.
enjoy…or not.
March 15th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
cool. i wonder if that one BDS board is in there… you know, the one with the skull and the wings on it…
March 17th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Paris trucks have been out for quite a while ‘Wag. You’re clueless!
March 18th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
“Paris trucks have been out for quite a while ‘Wag. You’re clueless!”
Yeah since April of 2007. Almost a year!
Source - Paris Truck Co. - Joey Pulsifer