How A Few Canadians Got 30,000 Instagram Followers By "Skiing Erect"
In December 2023, a skiing-focused Instagram account called Boner Media—run by Fernie local Tomaz Cigler and a few friends—had 198 Instagram followers. Now, about a month later, the account has 35,000 followers. This might not seem like much, but it's a big play in a comparatively niche sport where well-known sponsored athletes typically top out around 100,000 followers. Professional social media managers would salivate over a 30,000-follower leap in such a short period of time.
Before proceeding, I know what you're thinking: Boner Media? Are you sure this isn't a different kind of Instagram account that's, y'know, dedicated to something other than skiing?
Yes and no. Boner Media, at its core, champions two things equally. Rowdy skiing and, yes, you guessed it, frequent discussions of, well, I think I'll let Cigler fill in the rest.
Boner Media is "a group of boys that just wanna have fun and make funny videos for people," says Cigler. The other objectives: "making penis jokes, doing cool tricks, and of course, skiing erect."
For now, that's all there is to Boner Media. It's not necessarily rocket science. Men have struggled with a compulsion to talk about their nether regions for eons. This makes Boner Media's sudden traction online slightly confounding. Was there an overlooked market for a marriage of skiing and penis jokes online? Should I even be asking that question?
The answer to that second wondering is between me and God, but you're privy to the preliminary results of the first question. While I already had my suspicions—maybe skiing's become too serious in the past few years, leaving an opening for Cigler and his intrepid crew—I knew there was only one way to figure out what was going on.
What follows is an email interview between POWDER and Tomaz Cigler of Boner Media.
Can you tell me a little about yourself? Are you the one running the Boner Media account?
My name is Tomaz Cigler, I'm 22 years old from Fernie, BC and I love huckin' my meat. My dream is to huck my meat on the big stage... the drive threw invitational. I'm not the only one running the account, there are five other boners running it too.
Now, let's not beat around the bush here (no pun intended). What is Boner Media, and why is it so focused on a certain part of the male anatomy?
Lol, good one, might have to recruit you to help with our captions. We are a group of boys that just wanna have fun and make funny videos for people while making penis jokes, doing cool tricks, and of course, skiing erect.
Why did you start Boner Media?
Couple of boys were on the chairlift one day and we came up with the name after making a couple penis jokes.
Based on what I've seen, Boner Media has experienced a recent explosion in popularity on social media. How many followers have you picked up in the last six months, and what is it about Boner Media that has struck a nerve?
We have definitely blown up a bit. On December 22, 2023 we had 198 followers. Today, January 17, 2024 we have 34.7 thousand followers, which to me is crazy. We gained a lot of followers by hopping on a trend where I said I would do a backflip for every 50 followers we gained on Boner Media. By the fourth day, I was doing 100 backflips which was pretty tough considering the ski hill was super icy at the time. We owe 526 backflips right now and we plan on catching up on those over reading week. I think what is striking a nerve is the stupidness/young humour of our videos. For example, the most popular Boner Media video is a "snow report" where I smack my pole on the hard snow, yell "ROCK SOLID" then go do a backflip.
What role does humor play in skiing? Is it an essential part of skiing?
Most definitely humour is an essential part of skiing. Skiing is fun and it's a time where you can let loose and mess around with your homies, there's no point in taking it too seriously. RIP Shane McConkey and Robb Gaffney, the real OG's of humour in skiing. BONERS => Boner Objective Numerical Erection Rating System.
Boner Media seems to have a partnership going with the outerwear company Nivis Gear. Were they hesitant to support you given the content you produce, and have you had any interest from any other potential sponsors?
The funny thing is, they came to us… before we blew up. Nivis gear was an old sponsor of mine back in 2016-2018 before I went to school. In December of this year, when we had less than 200 followers, they sent me a message: "For old times sake how would the Boner Media team like a few Nivis jackets? I can promise they will give you a #Stiffy." We will be doing a giveaway and code for limited edition ski jackets in the short future which will help us get some money to improve the content we are getting. We have had other companies reach out to us, but we haven't finalized anything yet. We are open to working with other companies to our mutual benefit of stiff skiing.
Finally, what's next for Boner Media?
Lotta boners...
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