By Josh Mabus, Mississippi Business Journal, Feature Article, June 23, 2016. A few months ago, two of the world’s most successful lifestyle brands joined forces when Red Bull announced that GoPro was going to begin following and filming its Formula 1 racing team.
The announcement reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend at the beginning of the year. He had just returned from the Colorado ski slopes, where he said every kid had a GoPro camera strapped to his helmet as he eased down the mountain’s easiest slopes.
“They’re documenting the world’s most boring ski runs,” he said with righteous indignation, though it had no significant impact on his trips down the mountain. “The sad thing is how freaking epic they must feel when they go over a bump and think they’ve actually gone airborne.”
The kids think their trips down the mountain are epic because GoPro advertisements only show people performing incredible feats of humanity. You see a skier go off the top of a peak and fly for 10 seconds before coming back to earth.
You see a surfer outrace a collapsing wave. You see a climber jump from one dusty red rock to another while his feet dangle over certain death.
Then these words appear on the screen: “Be a hero.”