Bass Response

Skullcandy’s method for selling headphones was essentially the same as every lifestyle brand’s method for selling anything in 2012: find someone beautiful, point a camera at them, and let the association do the work. Kate Upton was inescapable that summer—the Sports Illustrated cover, the fast food ad that broke the internet in the best possible way, the general sense that the culture had collectively decided she was the moment and was going to keep deciding that for a while. Pairing her with a pair of over-ear cans said nothing about audio quality. It said: proximity to this is available for purchase. It’s never true, but the pitch doesn’t need to be honest to land.