nothing to do with skating.
Lifestyle/random shot ads have been in skating since the beginning. If mags only ran ads of skateboarding most kids would just flip through them and be done. No one would take the time to dwell on any of them for longer than a few seconds. Soft goods generally are the driving force behind any good hard goods company. Lifestyle shots get kids into buying whatever the pro's do, most kids have done it, I know I did. We searched out ghetto wear cargo shorts and black vans chukka boots after watching this is not the new h street video and seeing Matt Hensley's part. Or in the early 90's. The hubba ad's do the same thing but in a different way. When kids go to buy wheels they really don't have that much to base there purchase on. "Hey these are the ones with the half naked chicks in the ads, cool I'll get these". Yeah it's lame but I am sure it works. If spitfire didn't appeal to little kids they wouldn't sell half as many wheels because anyone who's been skating a while knows they flat spot so easy. Same premise.
Lifestyle will outsell skill any day,sadly.