Nike Advertisement
On average, an everyday America citizen is exposed to three thousand advertisements in a single day (“Killing Us Softly III”). With today’s modern technology, people are exposed to advertisements on television, radio, billboards, magazines, newspapers, and many other advertising mediums. All advertisements are trying to sell a product or specific idea to a common audience. Many ads also can posses hidden agendas or meanings and even have subliminal messages hidden within them. For many companies, advertising provides them with most of their economic growth; therefore, for years to come advertising will be apart of the daily lives of the American people. As in all other advertisements there are various elements that help to make it either a successful or unsuccessful ad. For example, the basic elements and structures of advertisements are also present in the Nike ads that I decided to analyze.
When one envisions a normal Nike advertisement they tend to picture a celebrity sports star, someone who is exercising, or someone participating in a specific physical activity. However, Nike developed a magazine ad with a young, half naked African America urinating on the side of a building structure. The boy is scantily clad in just a pair of decrepit shorts; he isn’t even wearing any shoes. The area seems to be either a poor community or located in a third world country. Located right beside the young boy is a small, white dog. The dog seems to be watching this African American boy “just doing it.” Written on the wall is Nike’s slogan “Just Do It” along with the famous Nike check mark. While looking at this advertisement I wondered whom was this ad meant for? The boy is not wearing a Nike product; in fact, he is hardly wearing anything at all. What was the purpose of this advertisement? This ad is not typical to any other Nike advertisement, which causes many questions to arise within the mind of the viewer as it did in mine....