Oru kayak's reckless and irresponsible advertising

Paddlers' Place
#21

Wow. Just wow. I haven’t seen the ads and they actually look like a parody, what you’d get if you hired someone from Mad Magazine to make a mock ad. Who are they marketing to with all the cold weather images? The wine and the one image of the paddler with the PFD riding up the back of his head……how did anyone at the company sign off on those with the ad agency?

The video is excellent. Hope it gets in front of the right eyes. My guess is the people buying these products don’t understand the magnitude of risk associated with doing what’s portrayed in the ads.

3 Likes
#22

We have one of our members with an Oru kayak join us on a few short weekday evening paddles. These paddles are mostly on semi-protected waters. The paddler is fairly lightweight. We’ve found in even moderate winds of around 10mph the paddler had a great deal of difficulty in controlling the kayak which was only carrying the paddler. They handle as badly as a big box inflatable.

#23

I was wondering if that was case. Thank you

#24

This response has been forwarded to the Bay Area Sea Kayakaers email list, supposedly taken from Oru’s Facebook page:

First - thank you to everyone who has reached out to us recently and over the years with feedback on how we portray safe kayaking. Your feedback is heard and incorporated into our brand guidelines. Paddling safety is one of our core values and we take it very seriously. That said, pre-2018 we did not require our contract photographers to include PFDs or other safety precautions in their shots and many of the photos represented in this video are a result of that era. We are currently reviewing our policies around how we portray cold water kayaking based on messages we received from several kayaking instructors in response to a recent ad.

Secondly, a portion of our marketing budget is set aside for safety focused content that applies to all kayakers, as well as Oru kayakers. The majority of new videos we are adding this year are ‘how to’ and safety videos. We made this decision in 2019 when we saw many of our new customers were also new to kayaking all together. These can be found on our Youtube and on our website. The video topics come from customer questions as well as Jeff, our kayak instructor you see in the videos. We added a link to find a certified ACA instructor to the Community Page of our website - a page we suggest new customers visit in the emails they receive after purchasing. This addition was based on feedback from a kayak instructor who wanted to make sure we were encouraging paddlers to take safety lessons.

The best place to send feedback is directly to us. You can send a dm or email us at info@orukayak.com.

#25

Well, they responded.
But paddling safety is one of their core values and as of 2017 they were still not requiring PFDs or concerned about having shots up with paddlers going into winter water wearing jeans and down parkas…

I and my husband knew this was a baad idea within the first few months of paddling. Sheesh.

1 Like
#26

I probably shouldn’t respond to this thread but… First off I agree that the images show are ridicules and portray unsafe situations even to the point of having deadly outcomes if someone was naïve enough to actually think these media shots are saying this what the company is recommending. I think most logical people realize this is marketing hype and nothing more.

As an example I was watching TV the other night and there was an ad for a well known SUV and it shows a woman driving it up a sever solid rock incline quite fast and stopping suddenly within a couple feet of a huge cliff canyon to jump out and get a fading sunset photo. In 60 seconds I saw 30 ways someone could kill themselves doing what the ad was showing, but it made for a better ad than her pulling into the grocery store and getting a cart to go shopping. That’s more likely what the person buying it will be using it for.

I bought an SUV once and on the cover of the owners manual it showed my SUV crossing a waterway that was 18” deep with a canoe on the roof and pulling up to a wilderness campsite. On page 18 of the manual it warned me to not drive thru water and if I did and the water was more than 8” deep it was recommended I take it in for service and have all the fluids and filters changed immediately.

I could list 100s of products where the company owner should have taken a better look at what the marketing people were doing. Not always life threatening but always misleading.

I see places all around me selling plastic junk rec-kayaks with no safety floatation and they don’t even sell PFDs to go with them. No instructions. 200 bucks and head to the lake or river. Should Wal-Mart be responsible if someone gets in trouble with one of their boats?

I took a look at the Oru website and within a couple minutes could tell the idea looked more like a good way to escape from Alcatraz than something I would want to use as a real boat.

I agree it is good to push back on companies and at the same time I think most people see past the over hyped advertisement of products. I like the way Old Town does it they just show you a couple action shots of people suited up close to shore paddling and then a lot of little photos of all the models with the price to click on. They know people looking at the page don’t need convinced they will have fun with a new boat. When I see all this drinking wine and such I see a company trying to hang on by showing the lifestyle and not the product.

4 Likes
#27

All true on most all comments. But the people I’ve run into with those aren’t thinking about kayaking in bad weather, long distance, wind or waves. They are thinking how easy it is too put in the back of the “smart car” or other economy vehicle…and it spends a lot of time there.

2 Likes
#28

I’ve had luck in the past contacting various companies that had articles or ads showing unsafe paddling practices. In one case a kayaking magazine had a cover featuring three women in Connecticut on SUPs with no PFDs present. When I wrote to them they said that they did not think PFDs were required. I wrote back with a quote from Connecticut’s boating laws which mirrored the USCG regulations, even for inland waters. They wrote back apologizing and said they would be more careful in the future.

One of their editors once stated the old nautical myth that kayaks have right of way over power boats. He got a ton of pushback over that.

If only car manufacturers were as responsive to requests regarding tiedown points, roof rail design, and making spoilers optional.

2 Likes
#29

My original statement was incorrect and I have deleted it to not perpetuate a misconception.

#30

A good sized sailboat may choose to take that risk against a motorized craft. Personally I wouldn’t push my luck but at least they are quite visible.

An individual in a kayak sitting 30 inches above the water would be a fool to try it. And it is not at all so clear as that either.

It is advice like this that gets new paddlers killed. If someone wants to accuse me of exaggerating, I can dig up the obit for a really nice guy I knew as an acquaintance for many years who got run over by a motor boater on Lake George trying to cross safely back to his place. The motor boater was wrong but never got charged with anything because that is just how it breaks between paddle craft and motor boats.

#31

I’m an advocate of the Law of Gross Tonnage.

4 Likes
#32

In the COLREGS kayaks, SUPs and other non-motorized craft and specifically recognized as “Vessels” and are granted no specific exceptions as far as following the rules for the give-way and stand on-vessel.

3. What “vessels” are required to comply with the Navigation Rules? In Rule 3 the word vessel includes every description of watercraft, including non-displacement craft, WIG craft, and seaplanes, used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water.

The only exception made for kayaks and non-motorized vessels are in regard to lights.

13. Where do Kayaks and Canoes fit into the Navigation Rules? Kayaks and Canoes are a vessel under oars and are addressed specifically in Rule 25 (lights)

Although a vessel under oars may be lit as a sailing vessel, one should not infer that they are considered to be a sailing vessel for other Rules (i.e. Rule 9, 10, 12, 18 or 35). Ultimately, the issue of whether a vessel under oars is the give way or stand-on vessel would fall to what would be required by the ordinary practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the case (Rule 2), and, the notion that they are less able than most other vessels.

In a general sense, a kayak has the same rights and obligations as a motorized dinghy, cabin cruiser, or oil tanker. However, there are many exceptions. A boat under sail, a large commercial vessel, a boat restricted to a channel, a boat trawling or engaged in fishing, a large boat maneuvering in a crowded marina, etc. are all considered to be restricted in maneuverability and would have the right of way in most circumstances. There are many such exceptions. In many cases a kayak, which is highly maneuverable and can go in very shallow water must give way to other larger craft.

The COLREGS or NAVRULES instituted by the Department of the Interior and enforced by the USCG are very complex, coming in at 226 pages, but nowhere will you find a section that makes a kayak the stand-on vessel when compared to a motorized vessel as a general rule. Just the opposite in fact, in spite of what some people think.

The actual idea of "right of way’ is not found in the COLREGS, and in fact is discouraged. The overarching concept is that every mariner must do everything in their power to avoid a collision or accident. Most court findings for marine incidents end up apportioning liability rather than finding one side entirely at fault.

4 Likes
#33

This information is key, and something I try to focus on when I teach kayaking. On the road, if someone has right of way and gets into an accident, the other person’s insurance pays to fix the dent. On the water, if you could have taken some action to prevent an action and didn’t, you are to some level at fault.

This holds even if you are a sailboat under sail and collided with a motorboat under power (clear cut motorboat was supposed to give way). If the sailboat could have taken action to avoid the crash and didn’t, they will be found at some level at fault.

So best we not bring our road belief of “right of way” to the water, as it isn’t the same.

4 Likes
#34

Works for me on the road.

#35

In Pearl Harbour we called it the Big Grey Boat rule.

#36

I don’t want to barge in on all this, but I always give barges right of way no matter what boat I’m in. ;D

2 Likes
#37

Oru’s response is corporate speak for "We got caught with our pants down and now we’re going to make excuses like “old photos”, and repeat the obvious fiction that safety “is one of our core values and we take it very seriously”.

The images in the National Center for Cold Water Safety video were pulled off Oru’s Facebook page and web site. And this is an image that they’re currently using:
Glacial water no PFD
No PFD, no protection, ice-cold water.

And then there’s this comment about how responsive they are to criticism:
Maiko Nakamura- “Absolutely! I saw Oru instagram post without a PFD on the glacier water. I wrote to them requested not to promote such ideas. their response was ”safety is our upmost importance” then continued to post similar ads anyway over and over again. I was interested in their kayak for recreational use, but decided not to buy their product because of this issue.”

Other kayakers have voiced much the same complaints about how little Oru values “feedback”. Time will tell. They have my email address - so far it’s crickets.

3 Likes
#39

You’ve always been a strong safety advocate, Rich, and also a strong supporter of cold water safety. Thank you for your efforts on behalf of our paddling community.

#40

I definitely agree with everything Mr. Avery has said. My wife and I purchased Oru Bay kayaks when we started paddling a few years ago. We were definitely newbs with no real experience. In hindsight, it is clear that in addition to cleaning up their advertising, Oru should include float bags with every boat. We were just lucky that we paddled in very calm and small lakes and never capsized. After about 6 months, I finally understood the danger of paddling with no floatation and purchased Oru’s float bags.

Separately, we also came to understand the risks of cold water and invested first in wet suits and then in dry suits. However, none of this was due to any information or guidance from Oru.

It is extremely irresponsible of Oru to market to first time paddlers and ignore all of these safety issues.

As we came to enjoy paddling and understood the limitations of the Oru boats, we sold them and moved on to hard shell boats with real bulkheads and full positive flotation.

We definitely got off lucky, but perhaps Oru will learn the hard way when it gets sued by some victim’s family.

#41

I apologise, I am wrong. I went through the Canadian regulations last night and what I thought was incorrect.