Like Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, or Katie Price and her plastic surgeon, the relationship between action sports and corporate sponsorship is long and complicated.

Long because corporate sponsors have been there since day dot. The first guy to bring surfing to the US (arguably kicking off the whole ‘action sports’ phenomenon) was brought in California to help promote a corporate sponsor: The Los Angeles-Redondo-Huntington Railroad company. 

“Whenever corporate sponsors get involved there’s the potential for it to go horribly, horribly wrong.”

And complicated because… well, as much as riders welcome the investment and exposure corporate sponsorship can bring, whenever they get involved there’s the potential for it to go horribly, horribly wrong.

You know what we mean right? We at Mpora aren’t ones to point fingers and scream “sell-out” at anyone who takes a cheque from a big company. If we did, it’d rule out writing about all but a handful of riders. After all, action sports is big business these days.

But surely there are better ways for them to earn their keep – and sponsors to get their money’s worth – than these cringe-worthy commercials?