Offensive Nike Ads Pulled
The best Nike ads of 2008 have been pulled. Anyone that has been offended has clearly never played sports or had a bloody nose. Its about being disrespected by your opponent. Its about your athletic abilities being far superior so you can defeat them psychically and mentally. That their kids laugh at them, their wife leaves them, and they have to commit suicide just to keep their family’s honor. Congrats to everyone who worked on this, I’m a better person because of it.
Nike pulls Hyperdunk ads amid criticism
The athletic apparel retailer said it would pull all ads for its Hyperdunk basketball shoes, amid criticism that the ads were homophobic.
BEAVERTON, ORE. (AP) — Nike said Friday it would pull its ads for its Hyperdunk basketball shoes, responding to criticism that they fed homophobic views.
Nike previously defended the ads, but said it would withdraw them as quickly as possible “to underline our ongoing commitment to supporting diversity in sport and the workplace,” The Oregonian reported.
The ads were created by Portland’s Wieden+Kennedy agency and titled “That Ain’t Right,” “Isn’t That Cute,” and “Punks Jump Up.” One ad showed a basketball player dunking over another.
The crotch of the player dunking was planted firmly in the other player’s face. The ad sported a large tag line: “That Ain’t Right.” Earlier, Nike had said the ads were “based purely upon a common insight from within the game of basketball — the athletic feat of dunking on the opposition, and is not intended to be offensive.”
Nike also reiterated its “history of supporting athletes regardless of their sexual orientation.” Nike has been praised by gay-rights advocates for supporting a 2007 Oregon law banning discrimination against gays in work, housing and public places. An after hours call to Nike corporate communications rang unanswered Friday.
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27. July 2008 - 17:24 Uhr
wieden + Kennedy seem to be recycling images already done by Undefeated on a tee last year.
The Undftd tee was based on Vince Carter’s “The Dunk of Death” during the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney.
In a 106-94 victory over France, Carter of Team USA executed what some call “the greatest dunk of all-time”, and the French media called “le dunk de la mort” (”the Dunk of Death”), literally jumping over 7′2″ (2.18 m) France center Frédéric Weis on his way to the basket (right).
phote here:
http://hoopedia.nba.com/index.php/USA_Senior_National_Team_(Men)#2000_U.S._Olympic_Basketball_Team
multi-angle video version here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp6qJ7LZNlg
… since this is a eurocentric site (and a francophile one at that!) i thought i would include a French broadcast edition as well (or is that French Canadian?!?!?! …sorry folks, that’s as close as this american can do for my Euro friends!):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJuaKUU3o7w
proper footnote:
inspiration and enjoyment culled from a recent dante ross’ post on “Design Gridlock”. post.http://www.danteross.com/blogs/dante/2008/07/24/design-gridlock-101-who-bit-who-and-whos-the-freshest/
27. July 2008 - 21:21 Uhr
lengthy photo link at hoopedia sis not make the cut!
try here instead:
http://hoopedia.nba.com/images/8/85/File.jpg
the cropped Undftd Bond + Cruz version is very, very, very similar to the Wieden + Kennedy alternate.
28. July 2008 - 01:02 Uhr
wow, thanks for the links… biting and inspired is a very thin line. Could we say that Vince Carter got the idea after watching Along Came Polly? Or Pepsi started a business after Coke’s idea… T-shirts and ads seem to be lame when compared to every automobile manufacturer biting Henry Fords original idea.
28. July 2008 - 04:36 Uhr
nevertheless, the cropped Undftd tee and the W+K ad are mirror images. plus, the Undftd tee was given homophobic nicknames (**by company outsiders**) like “eat balls”… the implausible queer undertones sound all too close to those dredged up/misperceived for this ad campaign and the gay-pride police who blew the foul whistle before almost anybody knew this ad campaign even existed.
Something my cynical mind recollects Chomsky mentioning in Manufacturing Consent:
“The question is whether privileged elites should dominate mass communication, and should use this power as they tell us they must – namely to impose necessary illusions, to manipulate and deceive the stupid majority and remove them from the public arena. The question in brief is whether democracy and freedom are values to be preserved, or threats to be avoided. In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than values to be treasured, they may well be essential to survival.”
… ok, i have NO IDEA what Noam means but i hope it suits my purposes and stalls your response Mr Heppler for a few minutes as you ponder the above quote.
yet in this case, i dont consider the line b/t inspired & biting so difficult to determine. it’s not hard to presume that a prominant west coast firm like w+k (whoever they are… tho manufactured controversy is changing that) would be familiar with the bond+cruz promotion/design family. Toooo much inspiration (biting or whatever) for me.
gotta go. David Ortiz crushed a Ponson pitch to right field. Yanks winning streak was in jeopardy in the 4th but now have bases loaded in the Top of the 5th. Thank the lord for sunday night baseball on espn… and A-Rod hitting an infield pop-up with nobody out. ditto for Nady.
2. August 2008 - 04:18 Uhr
Fuck that….does that make Hakim Warrick homo for teabaggin’ Royal Ivy in the tourney??? This is bullshit!!!
2. August 2008 - 04:20 Uhr
Here ya go….
http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1935196.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF1939057D9939C83F1069B72C47BECCD0F8B5A5397277B4DC33E