Dan Wieden and his ad agency are many different things to many different people. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the copywriter’s copywriter. His game-changing tagline for Nike has always summed up the sports brand in three perfect syllables. Just Do It.
The brand mantra is now 30 years old and Nike wants to let its pirate flag fly.
Nike wants to be “Nike the disruptor” again. The innovator. The champion.
Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/SRWkMIDdaO
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 3, 2018
I love the ad. On its own. Isolated from reality.
But the idea that Nike is in any way a proponent of labor is absurd. The reality of Nike is once again masked by the greatness of its advertising. Thankfully, the unmasking also happened within minutes of the ad’s launch on Twitter.
Everything about this is a mediated mind fuck. Kaepernick gets paid to represent his movement, which Nike uses to sell sneakers that are manufactured in Vietnamese sweatshops, to Americans who think they're "woke."
lol capitalism always wins. https://t.co/7j4BttHyMf
— Bridget Phetasy (@BridgetPhetasy) September 3, 2018
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[UPDATE] The long form TV ad, narrated by Kaepernick, breaks tomorrow night during the first NFL game of the season.
FIRST LOOK: New Nike “Just Do It” ad, voiced by @Kaepernick7, scheduled to air, as of now, on tomorrow night’s Falcons-Eagles season opener. pic.twitter.com/FZpUhdOlWW
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 5, 2018