Dear Burton Snowboards:

The White Ribbon Campaign of Vermont is a group of men around the state working to end violence against women.  We are writing to protest Burton’s new line of snowboards called “Love.” 

 The images you are exploiting and the language you are using in promoting this product perpetuate the sexual denigration and objectification of women and women’s bodies, and contribute directly to violence against women.  At a time when our families, our communities, our schools and colleges are working to end sexual and domestic violence, it is irresponsible for Burton Snowboards to promote a product so disrespectful to women.  As men, we feel disrespected , too.  

It is astonishing you would choose to use images of nude women for young men to stand on, and then describe this snowboard in terms that are, simply put, crude.  The ad copy opens with “I am on the market…” suggesting that the women you depict are for sale. The image of young men standing on a naked woman lying back on the board or showing her nude bottom and being told they will “score serious action, no matter where they stick it” is simply pornography disguised as ad copy.  But your product description doesn’t stop there. It gets worse.  “…long, hard grinds on my meaty Park Edges followed by a good, hot waxing.”  This snowboard invites young men to hit it “from the front or the back” and to “like it kinky.”   All this is described in the context of young men “riding” these nude images on the boards.  That you have called this board “Love” is nothing short of perverse.  What could this have to do with love?

Imagine a father helping his 12-year old daughter to learn snowboarding and seeing a young man “riding” one of these boards.  What can he possibly say to her that responds to this product in any way that would model healthy behavior? 

We urge Burton to discontinue this line immediately.  In addition, we urge that corporate leadership at Burton meet with women and men in Vermont who are working to end violence against women and children. There is much that enlightened businesses can do to help end this violence, starting right in their own backyards.  We hope you will want to help in this effort.

We value companies like Burton because of your successful history of producing a great product for a healthy and fun sport.  But we can’t believe that Burton really wants to project this sexually degrading  image into our communities, much less into the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of young men.  Your brand, and our sons and daughter, deserve better than this. Please help us in the effort to end the myriad ways in which our culture contributes to unhealthy attitudes and behaviors in young men.

If you want to learn more, we recommend visiting the website of the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence (www.vtnetwork.org). Thank you for your serious consideration. We look forward to hearing from you.  We can be reached at info@whiteribbonvt.org.

Rev. Will Burhans                                                      Stephen McArthur

Werner Heidemann                                                      Ron Redmond

 Rene Kaczka-Valliere                                                      Tim Volk

Greg MacDonald                                                      Sam Silverman