EXCLUSIVE: When Hurley used to sell naked boys!

More sought after than even the Phantom Fuse 3 Sport boardshort!

Before co-founding the most exciting web venture this side of Pied Piper’s data compression algorithm, I was Editor-at-living-Large of Surfing magazine, a fine, albeit conservative, enthusiast title.

My one-day-a-week, in office, consisted of not contributing anything worthwhile at the edit meeting and leaving before lunch. I truly loved my co-workers, each and every one, but I was not built for the cubicle. Or to have bosses. During the five minutes I was semi-lucid, I would yammer on about how conservative every damn thing had gotten. Why couldn’t we have fun anymore? What was so wrong about writing the truth? In my heart I knew the answer. The surf industry had grown into a bourgeois, feckless old man. Surfing magazine was completely benign, but even still, those above me regularly fielded calls from irate surf company middle managers who ruled like nasty little dictators, threatening to “pull ads” for even the slightest infraction. “Who cares?” I always thought. “Let them pull their stupid, suck ads. And let’s double down on their cheek by give them something worth pulling their shit ads over!” I was outvoted.

Hurley was amongst the worst. They once threatened to pull, and/or did pull, over a column likening Nike Surf to the Vietnam War. Bourgeois! Feckless! But feast your eyes on a naked Chris Cote, covered in chips and salsa, maybe getting urinated on, being used to sell…. Hurley! Amazing, you say? Yes it is. I called Chris to get the full story.

“Ha! I used to be a drum tech for Blink-182 and when we were on tour they would pay me extra to do stupid stuff. Once I worked an entire show wearing nothing but Reebok Pumps and underwear. This day, they covered me in chips and salsa and offered them to visiting journalists.”

But how did it come to be a Hurley ad? It does not necessarily reflect Bob’s taste.

“No it certainly does not. I’d have to think he was a bit shocked. You know, I don’t know who made the call on using it as an ad. Maybe Paul Gomez? It was before the company had even started making clothes. Like, right right when Bob split from Billabong. To be honest, I can’t even say if it was officially sanctioned or not.”

How much fun is it to do unsanctioned things? I will tell you. SO FUN! Come ride the Beach Grit train, Hurley. Shake off stern disapproval of, like, everything and live in the sun! We can all eat chips and salsa off of a naked Chris Cote. We can all be wonderful, surfing friends.