Why Aren't There Scuba Celebrities?

[Searcaigh]

Uh...

Cousteau?

So.... We have one....

one.

And his high-point was 50 or so years ago. Bit of a dry spell since then,

Well he has been dead since 1997

 

[hroark2112]

Submarine races aren't even fun when you're inside the submarine!!

Any time the boats I was on tried to haul ass, something broke!

 

[EastEndDiver]

There are several divers on Scubaboard who think they are "Celebrities" of some kind just read some of the self promotional threads ............you know the ones who always scream "me,me,me".

---------- Post added December 24th, 2014 at 03:10 PM ----------

Uh...

Cousteau?

So.... We have one....

one.



Well he has been dead since 1997

No wonder he smells so bad.

 

[FishLovingStudent]

I have no idea who is famous in sports like wing suit, base jumping, climbing, or badminton. Not a clue.

Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei have held the singles spotlight for awhile just fyi :winky:...

But I think that is the thing, if you are not active in a hobby or sport you are unlikely to know much about the people in it. If I were to say to an average joe or even average guitarist that Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Tosin Abasi are the best guitarists they'd have no clue what I am talking about even though these 4 are some of the best at what they do.

I'll just toss out Edd Sorenson for scuba celebrity because his name gets tossed around a lot on scuba-board. Heck, before I even considered sidemount and cave I already knew he was one of the best at it To me the true mark of "fame" is if people outside the hobby know your name, you are truly "famous" (like Gretzky for hockey, Ronaldo for soccer, Jordan/Kobe for basketball, etc etc). Cousteau would be SCUBA's methinks.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I would say that it would be easier to have a celebrity promote scuba than to have scuba make a celebrity. Koehler and Chatterton are a examples of how far a diver might be able to go in becoming a celebrity. Not far. On the other hand, celebrity is a self-fulfilling prophesy. Actors hire publicists to make sure people care about them. Taylor Swift goes to the gym and there is an army of photographers taking pictures. They are not there by accident. Lloyd Bridges is associated with diving because he was an actor cast as a diver. Jessica Alba was actress that scuba dove for a TV show.

The problem with making TV shows or movies centered around diving are that doing any show on the water is a dicey proposition. Filming is based on conditions beyond the control of crew. Storms, tides, currents and sinus infections can all derail production, not to mention the cost of cameras, lights, equipment and lets not forget the cost of insuring talent involved in the production.

Sea Hunt used a lot of stock footage and took advantage an unsophisticated viewership. Videos made today would need high production values, so filming lots of scenes in swimming pools and aquaria would not cut it. GoPro and YouTube might make some viral scuba celebrities as talented diver/cinematographers start finding a voice. It is much more likely that a TV production, (like Sea Hunt) would make the next household name in scuba and not the next great spear fisher. Maybe they can have "Celebrity Bug Divers" where we get to see Reese Witherspoon join Morgan Freeman Lobster diving on a ship wreck off Cape Ann. The closing scene would end with them having Gordon Ramsey cooking their catch for them*.

*Disclaimer: I know nothing about TV cooking shows, whether Witherspoon or Freeman scuba dive or have shellfish allergies.....

Hey, you gave me a great idea!
Have Ramsey show up to a spearfishing/seafood festival with a pop up kitchen and have contestants do something on the spot with spanking fresh seafood right on the beach
Show the actual footage of the diving with Gopro's, and the rest of the topside kitchen scenes would be regular production gear. If nobody got any game then have a back up plan of game that's already caught and on ice (and also prior hunting footage) and just fake it. Nobody would have to know.
On the California North Coast that also means the ever sought after and prized Giant Red Abalone. I could also see urchins (uni), sea cucumbers, all sorts of rock fish, lingcod, crabs, scallops, other shellfish, etc.
We are close enough to LA that it's a possibility.


I'll get started on it right away.

 

[Doc]

Good TV idea. Whale Shark for everyone.

 

[tomfcrist]

Good TV idea. Whale Shark for everyone.

I prefer pilot whale, but hey..whatever floats your boat

 

[Rhone Man]

Jacque Cousteau was actually a bit of a serious dick, even by the standards of French people who generally suffer high levels of dickishness. Of his many egregious sins, using dynamite on the reef so that the Calypso could get into the Blue Hole in Belize is the one I hold most against him.

The diving heroes that I most admire were the pioneers who took great risks (often unwisely) to push boundaries so that others might follow.

I even set up a website for them...

Sterling divers - Home

 

[tomfcrist]

I think the original question was basically this:

Why don't Chatterton, Kohler, Sorenson, Skyles, JJ etc walk around looking like billboards for the highest bidders corporate brand?

I think the answer is that they do....but they also don't. The limiting factor is the return on investment from the advertising. The majority of those divers are diving tech, wreck, cave etc...and the target audience is pretty stubborn about gear selection.

The cool part about celebrity advertising is that the average consumer donkey will say " well he wears it so it must be the best". Tech divers will quickly figure out if a product has real applicability or if it is a cheap gimmick designed to lighten your pocket book.

I suppose there is some marketability in the very new/very nieve entry level diver scene, but it's not enough to justify the investment.

The other possibility is that a picture of Volker in a speedo and his favorite fins is not to appealing. I'm positive that pictures of young attractive people having fun in the same attire would be more marketable. The moral of this paragraph, 99% of high level notorious divers are geriatrics. If not literally, then close to it.

Dan, I had to bust your chops a little...no hard feelings.

 

[Vegan Shark]

Tech divers will quickly figure out if a product has real applicability or if it is a cheap gimmick designed to lighten your pocket book.

Tech divers might not be using AIR 2 and other gimmicks, but they're just as susceptible to brand advertising and herd mentality as anyone else. Look at the thousands of divers wearing Fourth Element, despite it being made of the same exact materials as much cheaper generic winter undergarments, and Santi/DUI drysuits that are priced 2-3x as much as cheaper suits that will keep water out just the same. Or look at Halycon with its blue H tax for that matter. With tight-knight communities like GUE the peer pressure adds to it, and you see most divers wearing the same exact kit, regardless of if there are much cheaper products of same quality, simply because it's what their instructor/buddies are using.