Originally Posted by bkrownd
Like the vast majority of Americans, I don't read cycling and outdoor magazines. (More time to spend actually cycling and outdoor recreating.)
ZachS, for $25 you can become a contributing bikeforums member for life, and stop being brainwashed by all that advertising that worries you so much.
somebody's reading them, otherwise marketers wouldn't be spending all that money on the ads, would they? you're already a mountain biker anyway, blessed with what sound like wonderful trails in close proximity to where you live. you are also not a newbie who will easily fall prey to initial impressions and wild claims of advertising. nobody's accusing you (or at least i'm not) of being a drooling ad-driven zombie. but that doesn't mean that the desires and opinions of the public at large aren't shaped through marketing - the fact that they are is the basis for our entire economic and political system, after all.
and i do have to admit that i can be brainwashed by marketing: the second i saw the redline 925 on sheldon's site, i simply had to have one.