LG likes to use skateboards when advertising their expensive new TV’s. This 60 inch plasma may be $122,565 cheaper then their gold plated model, but at $9,435, it’s still pretty damn spendy. I think you can buy brand new Korean cars for that much money. So who is that vert skater on the screen? Does he get paid for this or was that part of the release he signed to enter the contest? Click the pic and you can see that although the model may look glamourous at first glance, when enlarged her arms look kind of pale, clammy and corpse-like. [Source: LG via Engadget]

Sure, some guerilla marketing tactics can get you into trouble. Others, not so much. Take this video footage of skateboarding being projected on buildings from a moving van. It makes it look like a guy is skateboarding down the street or along the roof tops and ledges of second story buildings. This projection trick has been done before on subway trains, but for art, not money. The skateboard projection is for a gum called Sportlife, Holland’s equivalent of Gatorade Gum (yuck!), proving Americans aren’t the only ones trying to jump on the Extremeâ„¢ bandwagon. Catch the video and more after the jump. [Source: Ninjawax.com]

Get out your overpriced plastic watches and put on at least three of them RIGHT NOW!!! Swatch used to sponsor an extreme sports like tour before it was, you know, Extreme!â„¢ It was purely spectacle, no contest. There was BMX and roller skaters in addition to skateboards. Bands? Seems like it but I might be confusing it with one of the old Vision Street Wear tours. They also used Per Welinder, Rodney Mullen, and Lance Mountain in one of those in store promo videos. You might think it strange that I listed those Bones Brigaders in that order, but that’s representative of their respective footage totals. Apparently, someone at Swatch had a thing for Per. Mullens’ stuff is impossible, and Lance is barely in it. It’s three minutes and thirty seconds of pure 80’s synthesized drums and keyboard soundtrack. Odds are that Stacy Peralta was on the production team and Dennis Dragon did the soundtrack. Catch this video from 1987 after the jump.

If you don’t take control of your culture, those who only care about the gold and platinum will.

That’s the message of this video series called Instant Def, which is a Snickers viral marketing web site. The story line focuses on hip hop being taken over by money-hungry industry types. Ironically, they cast the Black Eyed Peas, a group that will whore itself out to anything from TV commercials to supermarket grand openings. The production design is sharp, but the story, music and most of the performances are weak. On the plus side, Bootsy Collins shows up in episode 2 and again in episode 5. Speaking of taking control of your culture, they use a dog on a flying skateboard and a couple evil midgets little persons, one of them on a skateboard too. Ahh, the delicious irony. Delicious? I love Snickers, but they sure wasted a bunch of money for something lame. I’m not sure about their connection with the hip hop community, but I’m sure the Peas massive street cred will help. Skip ahead to the finale, which has the skateboard action and is also the most entertaining. More screen caps after the jump. [Source: Media Mindfulness]

Love and Acceptance on the Half Pipe: Sexy Skateboarding Ads Attack Discrimination is the title of the Gaysports.com (Who knew?) article about the MTV’s gay skateboarder anti-discrimination commercial that appears to have been written by a time traveling robot. The article, not the commercial. I’m not exactly sure why they wrote the article, because it’s more of a primer on skateboard culture than it is a commentary on the TV commercial or gay skaters. A few choice quotes and more after the jump

This is probably the best tutorial on how to build a mini-pipe that you will ever see. It’s a quick view, so check it out, you won’t be disappointed.

Skateboarding, Apple Computers and Punk Rock. That’s the chronological order that I was introduced those items, and I’m still heavily hooked on all of them. I had an Apple II before Macs existed. That means I’m old and also excuses computers coming before punk. I did grow up in a midwest suburb you know… My worlds rarely collided in the past, but nowadays it seems to happen all the time, which is why I barely raised an eyebrow when Apple’s latest Get a Mac adverts featured a certain skateboard conglomeration’s stickers prominently on TV. I would have preferred a more clandestine skateboard brand than Girl/Chocolate. Something a little under the radar would have been more subversive, if that’s at all possible at this point. Actually, little kids wouldn’t know about underground brands, so a Wet Willy sticker might have been more appropriate. Embedded video, links and more after the jump.

Siriusly (har har) I can’t tell if this is a commercial for Jeep or Sirius Satellite Radio. The gist of it is if you buy some kind of Jeep they throw in the Sirius service for free. It’s a mildly amusing commercial. If anyone still needs it, it’s proof that skateboarding has been assimilated into popular culture. Watch the video and see it dissected after the jump.

It depends on where you find it, this is either called GR8 TaT2 Maker or I-Tattoo There’s nothing like pretending to be an adult. If you’ve got a toy skateboard, you might as well have a toy tattoo gun. Next in line is the Lil’ Addict Heroin Kit™. Seriously, these kids look like little meatheads already. The kid on the right looks like he’s wearing a hair helmet. As soon as they get done with the fake tattoos they are going out to the back yard to off road in their battery powered mini Jeeps.

Get Inked!! Vibrating Electronic Pen! Safe and Easy! Uses Washable Markers! Contains: 30 Stencils 3 Markers

No, there’s no skateboard in the actual product, just in the advertising. I like how the copped the SK8 spelling for GR8. Tip of the keyboard to Gizmodo.com where I poached this from.

If you’ve ever owned or frequented a backyard ramp you’ve probably seen the attempts to ride the neighborhood gas powered scooter or small cc dirt bike on a half pipe before. It usually ends in a lot of pain or hole in the ramp. Somewhere there’s a guy in a cube getting paid to send emails to sites like this one in hopes of instigating a buzz about a product. It’s called viral marketing and it’s either ingenious or insidious, depending on how you look at it. In any case, it’s kind of fun to imagine the possibility that there are guys out there somewhere taking Extreme!™ to the next level by freestyle car driving on half pipes. Who knows, maybe some day someone will do something like this on a really basic level. Most of the videos are really well done. The screen captures are difficult cause the car is only is barely ever in frame with the ramp, which is why it sometimes works. When it doesn’t work it looks like crap. The official site is still being coy about what they are really advertising. Captain Obvious says it’s an upcoming video game. You guys owe me a copy when it comes out. [Update: This turned out to be viral advertising for the Nissan Qashqai ]