Burton puts Playboy centerfolds back on boards
Burton’s Playboy Bunny boards are back.
The iconic snowboard company based in Burlington announced late last week it had reunited with Playboy Enterprises, Inc. to launch the Burton x Playboy snowboard collection, “featuring vintage Playboy centerfolds and artwork by acclaimed tattoo artist, Chris Nunez.”
Burton first collaborated with Playboy in 2008, stirring a storm of protest in Burlington. The company’s owners, Jake Burton and Donna Carpenter, were surprised and saddened by the reaction but stood by the decision to market the boards. Jake Burton takes the same position today, saying Burton supports freedom of artistic expression.
The new boards are available worldwide in stores and on Burton.com, although they were absent from Burton’s new retail store on College Street in Burlington when the shop opened on Saturday. Burton’s flagship store at 80 Industrial Parkway in Burlington has the boards available but not on display on the sales floor.
“The misty collaboration features Playboy Playmates and will bring the best in lightweight performance, freestyle playfulness and all-terrain prowess,” states the news release.
Part of Burton’s Winter 2016 collection, the Playboy boards sell for $479.
The previous time Burton put bunnies on boards, in late 2008, a storm of controversy ensued. The outrage resulted in copious news coverage, scads of letters and opinion pieces, a protest on Industrial Parkway drawing “more than 100 parents, community leaders, clergy members and teenagers,” a City Council resolution, passed 12-1, asking Burton to meet with community organizations angered by the boards, and bans on resort employees riding the boards at Smuggler’s Notch, Killington Resort, Pico Mountain, Stowe Mountain Resort and Sugarbush.
Vail Resorts, which owns Vail, Beaver Creek Resort, Breckenridge Ski Resort and Keystone Ski Resort in Colorado along with California’s Heavenly Mountain Resort, also prohibited employees from using the “Love” boards, which featured four Playboy bunnies. Another line of boards, called “Primo,” detailed “self-mutilation in a comic book-style storyboard on the base,” according to a Burlington Free Press report from the time.
The controversy spilled over into Spectrum Youth and Family Services in Burlington. Executive Director Mark Redmond decided to end Spectrum’s association with the Chill snowboarding program, established by Burton co-founders Jake Burton and Donna Carpenter, to teach snowboarding to at-risk youths.
Redmond said in 2008 the decision to withdraw from Chill was unpopular with Spectrum staff, but he felt it was important to make decisions based on principle.
“As soon as I saw the boards, it was an easy decision for me,” Redmond said in 2008. “I felt like the Playboy boards were offensive, I believe they objectify women, and that leads to violence against women.”
Redmond also objected to the Primo boards, because some of the youths his organization served had serious problems with harming themselves.
Up with ‘artistic expression’
Burton dropped the Love collection in 2011, saying the last edition of the boards would be sold only through Burton’s Private Stock program, which is limited to a few specialty retailers worldwide. So, one might ask: What is Burton thinking in bringing the boards back for 2016?
The same thing they were thinking in 2008, as it turns out, when both Donna Carpenter and Jake Burton wrote op-eds for the Burlington Free Press defending the boards, nearly two months after the bunny brouhaha first burst on the scene.
Jake Burton, founder and chairman of Burton Snowboards, wrote this via email in response to a request for comment on the 2016 Playboy boards:
“Since Burton was founded nearly 40 years ago, we’ve supported freedom of artistic expression. Board graphics are artwork, and we understand that art can be offensive to some and inspiring to others. I strongly back our latest snowboard collection with Playboy and was involved in the project from the beginning.
“We understand that opinions may differ on this topic, but here is mine,” he continued. “Playboy is one of the most iconic brands in the world, and we’re proud to have worked with them on a number of projects for over a decade. Our latest creation, the 2016 Burton x Playboy Process snowboards, is my personal favorite because we also collaborated with our good friend and renowned tattoo artist, Chris Nunez.
“The end result is a beautiful board that looks as good as it rides. And just like all of our past collaborations with Playboy, I’m sure it will be a collector’s item.”
Playboy Enterprises also responded by email to a request for comment on the 2016 collection. The bunny boards were introduced about a month after Playboy announced to great fanfare that the company no longer would feature photos of fully nude models in the magazine. The boards feature scantily clad women with Nunez’s art covering their bodies in strategic locations.
“Playboy has a rich, unparalleled 62-year-old brand history founded on personal freedom and liberty,” Playboy spokesman John Vlautin said. “Nudity has always been just a component of the Playboy brand, not the centerpiece of it. As the world now knows, we’re re-articulating Playboy with a new sensibility that honors our original brand vision.
“We are very proud of our history, and so we are particularly excited about our latest collaboration with Burton, featuring a Burton x Playboy line of snowboards embossed with select vintage non-nude Playboy centerfolds and artwork by acclaimed tattoo artist, Chris Nunez.”
‘Not in the business of censorship’
Spectrum Executive Director Mark Redmond decided this year to allow his staff to apply again for Chill Foundation support.
“We have a staff member who found three kids who really want to learn how to board this winter,” Redmond said. “At the last minute, I saw this Playboy thing. I told him to put the application in anyway. I didn’t want to pull the rug out from underneath these kids. Hopefully Chill will pick us.”
Redmond’s personal feelings remain unchanged.
“It’s disappointing to see a good company like this resurrect something I think is objectifying of women,” Redmond said. “It’s disappointing, because I really like Burton. The last couple of years they donated a lot of clothing to us.”
Win Smith, owner of Sugarbush, said he has no issues with the 2016 Playboy boards. But he said he didn’t think the 2008 collection was “appropriate.”
“Obviously there’s freedom of speech, and we’re not in the business of censorship, but we wouldn’t rent or sell the boards,” Smith said. “People would be free to ride the slopes (with the Playboy boards), but if somebody put a board on display outside the family center, we would respectfully move it to another area.”
Zandy Wheeler, co-owner of SkiRack, a bicycle and ski store in Burlington, said he probably would decline to sell the Playboy boards — but the point is moot, because SkiRack dropped Burton this year, after 15 years of selling the company’s products. The reasons are unrelated to Playboy bunnies, Wheeler said.
“Even though they’re still No. 1, Burton wasn’t capturing the people we’re serving,” Wheeler said. “What I think we’re doing is having something more unique and refreshing.”
Wheeler said he also wanted to stop competing with Burton’s factory store on Industrial Parkway.
“We had a small fraction of what they have at the factory store,” Wheeler said. “We don’t want to compete with a local company that has warehouse sales bigger than the city of Burlington.”
Burton did not respond to a request for comment about Wheeler’s analysis.
Derek Tiplady, snowboard hardgoods and outerwear buyer for SkiRack, said the store is carrying Rome, Capita, Salomon, Gnu and Yes snowboards and gear.
“Pretty much everybody makes a great board these days,” Tiplady said. “It’s not that Burton has fallen off as much as everybody else has risen up.”
This story was first published online on Nov. 25, 2015. Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DanDambrosioVT.
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