maybe not a popular opinion and I know it might sound pretty fucked given the impossible shit that goes down in them, but Nike, Converse, Adidas, and to a lesser (but increasing) extent Vans shoes on a skaters' feet just ruin most clips to me; not trying to cause any controversy here, it just naturally does, to me. I just can't help but not unsee the overly blatant, gross promotion; now of course skateboarding is an industry and sponsorship is all about advertising and yadda yadda... but there is something so unsubtle about those situations, to me they always convey the feel that I'm watching a commercial rather than a skate video. and yes, of course most skate videos are commercials - I don't think I need to be schooled on that shit - but the thing is, even as such, I feel like they only work when they actually make you want to skate. I'm not interested in a mere display of product on some generic superhero's feet like the guy's skating is some kind of obvious shop window (something I find almost degrading for the skater in itself); I only get stoked on videos were the actual skating is the focus, and I just naturally stop feeling that way as soon as I'm submerged with swooshes and stripes. although, that mechanism doesn't seem to apply whenever the skater looks like he's genuinely wearing the shoes, ie. they're beat up or the guy looks like he's just wearing whatever with no contractual obligations (so, mostly unsponsored dudes). or if it's Quim Cardona, Paulo Diaz or Jahmal Williams in 1998. growing up in an era where the skateboarding industry was still very much of a skaters' thing and the big corporations were more or less completely out of it, I guess I still kept a certain knack for skating that looks or feels 'untouched'.
now don't get me wrong, I'll appreciate everybody's talent on a board and achievements regardless of their sponsors' logo and I tend to just mentally strip the skater down to their silhouette anyway, in order to appreciate what they're physically doing. but Nike, Adidas, Converse, and Vans logos somehow persist as something that soils and taints skate footage to me. sorry not sorry...