Greetings, Shredderz! It’s the Fourth of July, and as a patriotic American, I have to confess that I have better things to be doing right now than writing about vintage surf ads. Like having a few drinks before setting off a bunch of explosives in a completely unsupervised setting, for example. But stories don’t get much more American than Michael Tomson’s red hot heyday, followed by his more recent fall from grace. We wish Tomson nothing but the best. Regardless of how you feel about the man, there is no denying his branding genius. I’ve written before about Gotcha’s amazing ad campaigns on this blog. It’s interesting that Tomson features himself in this ad, which was originally published in the September 1980 issue of Surfer Magazine (Vol 21, No 9). My guess is the ad is from the early days of Gotcha, before it found its stride.

Thanks for reading, Happy Fourth of July to everyone, and we hope to see you again next Thursday with more Sagas of Shred!