Friday, April 27, 2007
Nike and Don Imus... say what?
Nike is an icon in the advertising world, and that swoosh is something we all recognize without batting an eye. So what does it say about the company when they use the recent Don Imus scandal over his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team? Is it because they want to start a dialogue on race and culture? Do they want to use this for their own gain? What does this label say when it steps outside of the clothing and into a discussion on values? What does that discussion of values look like, and who controls the topics? Lots of questions, and lots of things to discuss. See the ad here.
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5 comments:
Marcus F (BLOGG 11)
Looking over this Nike ad it’s interesting that Nike would use this overblown cluster I call Imus Gate to promote the basketball season, woman’s basketball, and Nike as if Nike had been some kind of ombudsman on race relations for the past 10 years. But they use the word Ignorance instead of racism, why are they looking at the comments as if they were about ignorance. They act all caviler, but in reality they are really just cold, rich milk toast, trying to ride the coattails of this cluster.
Would Imus have lost his job if his comments were just ignorant? I don’t think so, and then when you throw the 2 monster shysters Jackson and Sharpton into the mix it turns into a witch hunt of monumental proportions. Just like in the Duke rape case when Jakson and Sharpton went down there and then preceded to crucify the players. But then when they are wrong as in the Duke rape case they do not come out and say so they just move on to the next crusification.
What’s so hypocritical is the language that’s used in the Rap industry, on MTV, MTV2, and BET, makes those comments made by Imus look like a sugar cookie recipe. Where have the shysters been hiding over the last 15 years when it comes to Rap? Imus was wrong in his comments he said over the air waves on his morning radio show. But should he have lost his millstone? No!! He should have been fined taken off the air for 2 weeks and then had another 2 weeks devoted to race relations. Imus failed to understand 3 very important double standards when it comes to free speech, one he was not black and 2 he was not on MTV or a Rap singer. M~
Well, of the many things I can't stand, two of them stand before me; Imus and basketball (not just women's basketball).
Imus is an idiot anyways, so that takes care of that. Nike isn't that far behind his Idiocracy (shout out, WHOOP!). Nike's whole advertising mission is to make you feel like you're the underdog. For instance, the commercial where the guy is running through all kinds of towns because he needs to be the best, the basketball player that does NOTHING but shoot free-throws all day, and now this. I'm sure you can see their commercials in the light of "practice makes perfect", but they're not. There's always the voice behind the guy shooting saying something like "They're bigger, faster..but..." blah blah blah.
I agree with Imus getting booted, and that's part of broadcasting, once you screw up, you're gone, roll with it. However, this article proves Nike to be an ambulance-chaser. First sign of a racist/sexist comment and Nike is there...."They may all be against me....BUT..." blah blah blah.
I heard a good joke from my neice today also, thought I'd share it:
What do you give a sick bird?
...tweetment
HAHAHA, you know it's funny.
Scott
I think agree with Scott’s post, in the sense that Nike did seem to be somewhat of an “ambulance chaser” on this one. And of coarse they would like to use this for their own personal gain, they found a window to support other athletes, but to also make sure that we knew it was Nike who was supporting them. Then that promotes athletes to want to buy, wear their clothing and show off that Nike signature swoosh, which gives Nike that much more advertising. Others see athletes wear it, so they want to, somewhat of a snowball effect. It’s great that they are putting out a positive message for those girls, but they are definitely getting something out of it.
Daniela
I just think it's funny when a company who's name is based on the greek goddess of victory comes in and does stuff like this. When you look at it like that it really puts a spin on the company and makes me think at least that they think no matter what they do they will win. So what business do they have in the Imus issue? None really, yes they are a corporation that is based solely upon athletic materials, but they have no business in this debate, and all they are doing is throwing a little bit more publicity out there for themselves, that's also probably all they want to do. I'm sure they just want to be seen as a strong company who will stand up for a bunch of women who were already doing a great job standing up for themselves.
Nick Conant
Closed.
Angela
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