Snowboarder will appear in Nike ad with Picabo Street, Gabrielle Reece.
September 26th, 2007
ASPEN, Colo. -- U.S. Snowboarding pro rider Gretchen Bleiler (Aspen, CO) has teamed with sponsor Nike, the official glove provider of U.S. Snowboarding, to collaborate with pro athletes from across women's athletics. The result is a television ad campaign with the simple message "Judge me as an athlete."
"It's a pretty powerful message and it was an honor to be involved," said the two-time Chevrolet U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix overall champion. She's joined in the ad by alpine skiing great Picabo Street and beach volleyball pro and model Gabrielle Reese, among others.
"There was a big room with a giant megaphone and two stairs leading up to it. We just walked up to it and freestyled for bit, then came up with the theme 'It doesn't matter if I'm a guy or a girl' and it evolved from there."
Bleiler's line: "The halfpipe thrashes the girls just as hard as the boys. I respect that." At its core, snowboarding has been a pioneer in equality as male and female riders have always competed on the same tours and in most cases received equal prize money. The Chevrolet U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, America's premier snowboarding series, has offered equal prize money since its inaugural season in 1996.
"I feel like snowboarding has always had a relatively equal playing field. For sure, there's still some work to be done, but with snowboarding, especially at the Olympics, we compete as the U.S. Snowboarding team - not the U.S. women's snowboarding team or the U.S. men's snowboarding team. We travel together and compete together. I feel pretty fortunate, but that isn't the case with most sports."
In addition to plugging women's athletics with Nike, Bleiler pushes the message with the help of her other sponsors like Oakley and K2. She's also been involved for several years with the Women's Sports Foundation, a nonprofit organization with the mission of advancing the lives of girls and women through sport.
"All my sponsors have been behind this movement in a big way. Oakley is coming out with the industry's first women's-specific goggle this season and we're also launching my own outerwear line. K2 started the Women's Alliance to help develop completely women's-specific products.
"More and more women are actually watching and participating in sports, and it's fueling this need for our own products. It's a cool thing to be a part of," she said.
