Preoccupied: Regarding a Troubling Advertisement

 

Let's talk about irony. Let's talk about this ad, which confronted me the other day while I read Climbing.

In the ad, Five Ten's “Occupy Yosemite” tagline aims to associate the company with the revolutionary Occupy movement. We all know revolution and social consciousness moves product: think Che Guevara t-shirts, children of ex-hippies wearing Urban Outfitters, LiveStrong bracelets, etc.  Choosing Yosemite is significant, too, as the Valley was the proving ground for some of the most counter-cultural climbers in the history of the sport.  (How counter-cultural those climbers actually were is debatable, but people like the Stonemasters are nevertheless seen as the epitome of untainted, "authentic" climbers).

So, it's obvious that Five Ten is trying to co-opt the Occupy movement, which is just wrong.  But Five Ten's products have nothing to do with upending the inequality that Occupy is confronting.

Now, if Five Ten were its own company, the ad might be nothing more than a bit of cheek.  But now that they're part of the sportswear behemoth that is Adidas (€11.99  in revenue in 2010), the ad is the epitome of hypocrisy: a company that's part and parcel of neoliberal capitalism trying to sell product by invoking the very forces that would see it fall.  Ouch. 

To open a whole 'nother can of worms, the other problem with the ad is that Yosemite is already Occupied by a bunch of citizens of the U.S., the government of which invaded and forcibly removed the indigenous people who previously inhabited it. Many factions of the movement have problematized the word "Occupy," noting, for instance, that European settlers forcibly installed themselves on the land that's now Wall Street — the “Wall” refers to the barrier they erected to keep natives out. How would this ad come off if it read “Occupy Ship Rock” or “Occupy Devil's Tower,” two places where climbing access has disrupted indigenous rights? Of course most of our country is occupied in this sense, but the barb of irony is particularly sharp in the National Parks.

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Well, what're you gonna do?  At the end of the day, this particular ad doesn't make a difference.  It's just an indicator of the relationship between climbing, media, and advertisement.  But that doesn't mean climbing itself has lost its spirit or any other such doomsday-speak.  You're just better off looking for that spirit at an actual crag rather than in a magazine.

My friend and original climbing guru Grant just put up a big route in the Cochamó Valley, Patagonia.  Hell yeah!  Check out his write-ups here and here.

"We had no idea what was underneath that greenery; was it going to be another flaring butt crack or was it going to be something that you could actually protect, and, dare we even hope for it, something you could actually jam?  Searching through the huge rack on his harness, Chris found the nut tool and started cleaning in search of a placement.  'Dude!' he said, turning to me, dirt covering his face, 'it’s splitter!'"

Shawn's World - Trad and Tuna in Joshua Tree

This is Shawn.  He keeps his keys on a full-size oval biner, along with a bottle opener and a hair tie.


Maybe that's all you need to know.

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"Take.  Take."  Shawn's weight hit the rope and sucked me towards the wall.  He roared, "Fuck.  FUUUCK!" He's 6' and 220 pounds.  When he gets behind a swear work, you feel it.  "Those ASSholes!  They probably put this one in the book so no one could get 'em all!"


Then, rearranging his gear, he dropped a #3.5.  "Um, you want me to grab that for you?" I asked.  He grumbled.


Our second day in J-Tree had started on a happier note: In his life, Shawn had done 57 of the climbs in the 60 Favorite Climbs guidebook, and today he planned to tick the last three.  Diagnostic (5.6) hadn't given him any trouble (okay, except for some cursing when he had his gear on the wrong side for the layback moves) and he was optimistic when he racked up for Music Box. "This thing looks easier," he'd said.


Now he dangled 10 feet off the deck and cursed.  I had to look down at my belay device to keep from laughing.

"You could live 100 lifetimes and never begin to touch it all."
                                                                                                                                    - Fred Beckey (via)