Kampo 1 Jess Kampo Professor Gene Gort Visual Culture 29 April

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Jess Kampo
Professor Gene Gort
Visual Culture
29 April 2014
Everyone knows Nike. We see their brand everywhere; banners in stadiums, athletes wearing
their apparel, our neighbor who is about to go out on a jog who has a pair of Nike running shoes. Nike
is a company who attract athletes to buy their products. Through their non-discriminatory
advertisements, they are able to attract both genders in a unique, hip way. Nike has become a highly
competitive company that has been able to as successful as they are due to their gender equality
advertising. In order to attract consumers, a company must have a strong marketing strategy. Nike has
been successful in advertising and proved how strong they were in advertising in 2009 when Nike
released a campaign called “Men VS Women.” This campaign tracked the kilometers traveled by men
and women who signed up for Nike+ and at the end of a certain period, whatever gender had the most
kilometers won. This paper will be focused on how Nike is able to advertise to women and men
respectively using specific advertising techniques through different mediums which include print, video,
and social media.
Before the 1960’s, most of the products that were advertised were directed towards men and
objectified women. After the 1960’s, women began to step forward and protested numerous
companies. “The most general complaint by women’s groups has been that women have been
portrayed solely in terms of their gender roles - as sex objects, as social companions, as mothers, as
housewives- rather than having an existence outside their homes or having selves outside their relations
to men” (Singer 104). After years of protesting against companies and research, women slowly began
to less objectified. Many companies today still degrade women in their advertisements but this was a
bigger problem in the 1960’s. Nike became a huge success due to their gender equal advertisments.
“Before there was the Swoosh, before there was Nike, there were two visionary men who
pioneered a revolution in athletic footwear that redefined the industry” (History & Heritage). Just like
many successful companies today, Nike wasn’t successful in the beginning. Two young men, Phil Knight
and Bill Bowerman, are the men behind the creation of Nike. Knight was involved in track field at
University of Oregon and his coach was Bowerman. Bowerman wanted his players to be the best they
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could be so he experimented with footwear for his athletes to wear. He offered his new shoe inventions
to different companies but all were rejected. After graduation, Knight went on to earn his MBA in
finance at Stanford University. Knight began to fall into the shoe industry where he too started to create
shoes. “He wrote a proposal to a company in Japan for high quality running shoes that would compete
against German shoes” (History & Heritage). Knight’s shoes were rejected but was offered to sell
shoes for the company, Tiger. In efforts to sell the shoes, he contacted Bowerman who, in turned,
asked to be his business partner (History & Heritage). The business they created was called Blue
Ribbon Sports (BRS). Knight sold the shoes while Bowerman tore the shoes apart to create a better
athletic shoe. As their company become more successful, the businessmen began to realize they would
need more help. Knight offered the first full-time position at BRS to a man he met at Stanford, Jeff
Johnson (History & Heritage). He created the first branding for the company and created the name
Nike. After a rocky start, Nike began to see their bright future. “At the end of 2000’s, Nike became the
top competitor and continues to seek new and innovative ways to develop superior athletic products,
and creative methods to communicate directly with our consumers” (History and Heritage). Today they
are still one of the most well-known sport product company and are highly competitive within the
industry. Nike is able to stay at the top of their game due to their strong marketing and advertising
campaigns which they are infamous for.
America is run under the capitalist system “in which the investment in and ownership of the
means of production...are held primarily by individuals and corporations” (Sturken). Nike is able to sell
their products in this system because America is a consumer society. This system “depends on the
production and consumption of the large amount of goods, well beyond those that are necessary for
daily living” (Sturken). Nike wouldn’t exist if people didn’t have leisure time or if sports weren’t
created. One doesn’t need Nike Air to live a functional life; but that’s what Nike states within their
advertisements along with being part of the Nike community. People want to buy something that will
make them feel good and fit in with a group they feel they belong to. In the sport world, people
associate themselves as a “Nike,” “Adidas,” or “Reebok” person. Nike aims for the consumer to be a
Nike person and shows the benefit of choosing Nike. The “Men VS Women” ad campaign shows that
if one joins the Nike+ community they will be helping, not only themselves, but also their fellow gender.
Nike’s older ads take a simpler approach to attract customers.
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With the development of technology, advertising has become more advanced than it ever has
been. Advertisments started off in print but today we see them as pop up ads, billboards, within
magazines, on the side of our social media websites, or as an interactive ad before an online video. Nike
took full advantage of the advancing technology when it came to advertising their products. One of the
first advertisements that was aired was in 1982. The commercial opens with a caveman running away
from other cavemen and slowly transitions into what Nike is currently doing at the company (during the
80’s). This commercial is about one minute long and focuses on why Nike creates shows and displays
scientific and technological ways of figuring out the best show possible. The targeted audience within this
ad are runners of different genders. Nike displays how they use the best technology while comparing it
to the beginning of time to when cavemen ran. The closing and opening scene bring the message home
for the viewer. The closing scene is shown with a male runner crossing the finish line where the narrator
states “Why do we go through so much trouble? Well it may be the 20th century and all that, but there’s
still people out there who run as if their life depended on it.” Even though Nike isn’t implying that their
shoes are used for people to run away from danger, but that people are able to run fast with a Nike
shoe. Studying the commercial without any sound, the opening of the commercial looks as if it is an
opening to a historical show which could make the viewer pass by the commercial.. In turn, it could
intrigue the viewer if one of their interests is history. As the commercial progresses so do the transitions.
The transitions in the commercial show different environments which include a test subject running,
screens from technical observing machines, a marathon, and someone crossing the finish line whom
appears to be the first to finish the race. Nike was able to present both genders equally. Even though the
cavemen are male, the typical stereotype of a caveman is a man who has long hair and is also the one
“outside of the cave.” Then when the commercial transfers over to the current society, it shows a man
being tested and then a women. The marathon is run by both women and men; the close up of the legs
of the runners is to imply that the viewer could be within that group of people running with Nike
footwear. But Nike decided to add the end of the race in which a man has won. This scene could’ve
been removed but it also adds puts in the consumers head that “If you buy Nike shoes, you will win the
race.” The commercial appeared to be authentic, “the quality of being genuine or unique,” (Sturken 432)
when presenting the viewer information. It showed scientific facts and represented a person winning a
race because they were wearing Nike shoes. The gaze isn’t used at all within the commercial either. The
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viewer is in a third-person point where they are watching what is going on versus being apart of this.
Nike then calls for the viewer to become apart of that running culture. This is seen throughout many of
Nike’s advertisements; the desire that a person wants to be part of a community. While commercials
became popular due to rise of the television, Nike used print advertisements in order to attract
consumers as well.
One of the earliest successful shoes Nike sold was the Nike Air. There were many
advertisements that were created to attract both genders to purchase this shoe; without showing the
shoe itself or a model. Nike began to show how talented their advertising techniques are. There are two
advertisements that were meant to attract both genders. The first advertisement (refer to figure 1.1)
shows laces floating but the viewer can tell it is a shoe. The pictures immediately explains the tag line
which states “a racing shoe should be easy to forget.” It plays off of what could be seen as a “ghost
shoe” which makes the runner feel as if they weren’t wearing a shoe at all. There is no use of models, no
extravagant use of photoshop; just a simple advertisement to attract both male and female consumers.
This is a successful advertising because it’s short and simple, has the actual product in the lower right
hand corner, and doesn’t discriminate between genders. The second advertisement (refer to figure 1.2)
addresses the viewer as knowledgeable of the Nike brand. The photo is referring to the width of an
individual’s shoe and so is the tag line. The picture is replacing the shoe since the shoe has become more
popular and it has increased the variety of shoe widths to fit everybody; which in turn opens the market
up to more men and women with a wider foot. The tag line “The world’s most popular running shoe is
now this much more popular” gives the hand a more significant meaning because it’s a simple motion
that represents “this much.” The ad works together as a whole very well and integrates the product
without it physically being the main aspect. The last sentence in the ad states “And if you knew that, we
didn’t need to do this and.” This quote is talking specifically to the viewer and telling them that if they
knew about the Air Pegasus, Nike wouldn’t have had to create this advertisement to begin with while
in turn selling the shoe to a consumer who hasn’t been told about the shoe yet. At the bottom right hand
corner, it shows the specific shoe for the men and for women that would be purchased. As Nike grew
to become one of the most competitive sports brands, their advertising tactics became stronger and
more successful. After years of Nike becoming a successful company, they released their “Men VS
Women” campaign which was released in 2009, in Europe, to promote not only physical fitness but also
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their Nike+ application which is a system which tracks the athlete's running and distance. The
advertising strategy was designed extremely well to attract both male and female consumers.
Being one of the top sport product producers, Nike already became a household name by
2009. Many professional sports were using Nike products and or were sponsoring the brand. When
Nike released their campaign “Men VS Women,” it was aimed at men and women runners specifically,
to go onto the Nike website and join the Nike+ community and compete against the opposite gender to
who could run the most within a given time period. They created print ads and a commercial to promote
the campaign. Both modes of advertising were successful and portrayed both genders equally.
Just like the 1982 commercial, Nike was able to create another commercial that was gender
neutral. There are two versions to this commercial; one that is a minute long and the other that is a
minute and a half. (The longer commercial is being analyzed). The commercial opens up with a young, fit
women in Nike athletic gear who checks the status of where the women are in the Men VS Women
competition. She sees that the men are winning while, what appears to be, her boyfriend is sleeping on
the couch. This will catch both the men’s attention since there is an attractive women and it’ll attract the
women’s attention since they will notice they are losing. The commercial continues with different men
and women running outside in different areas competing against each other. There are different celebrity
sport player appearances throughout the commercial which will attract different sport players. It shows
men and women equally along with showing the stats being raised which implies that it’s only the people
involved in the Nike+ community will help win the race for their gender versus the individual. Again, the
recurring theme of Nike encouraging people to join their community. One of Nike’s mottos is “Endorses
an etho that one size, one ideology, fits all...Stand up for yourself. Don’t let others tell you what you can
and cannot do” (Goldman, 120). Even though Nike communicates to men and women differently, they
want to get across the same message through their advertising. This commercial represents that exact
motto. The shoes and athletic wear the runners are wearing are all Nike brand which reinforces product
placement. Nike is not only selling their product but also that community that only Nike+ members are
allowed to be part of. The men and women who are involved in this community work together to beat
the opposite gender and whenever the men and women encounter each other they try to sabotage them
with childish behaviors such as pulling their headphones out, throwing their shoes out the window or
rushing out of an elevator. Nike did an incredible job showing the competitive spirit both men and
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women share while encouraging both genders to participate. The hint of comedy was used effectively as
well and brought lightness to the competitive spirit. The viewer sees this competitive spirit and feels the
need to be part of the community. The commercial emphasizes the importance to joining this community
to helping their gender along with keeping track of their own progress as a runner. Nike ends the
commercial by showing a man and women running and the stats being tied. This is to represent that
either gender needs the viewer’s help to win the race; it’s up the viewer now to decide if they are able
to help their gender win. But the commercial is still selling one thing; Nike products. If the consumer falls
for the commercial, they will end up buying Nike shoes, which have been advertised as the best and
fastest shoe, and help their team to win while entering into a new community which is linked to the
Nike+ website.
Looking into the print advertisements that were created, a gender equality is seen. Nike created
three different types of advertisements; men specific, women specific, and gender neutral. Nike shows
these ads within their commercial as well which ties into their campaign.
Referring to figure 2.1, the advertisement is very blunt and states “One more thing for men to
rule.” To a man, this will immediately attract his attention because what man, or person, doesn’t want to
rule over something. In smaller font underneath, it encourgers the viewer to go to the nikeplus.com and
enroll in the Men VS Women campgain. If the viewer had no knowledge of what the campaign was,
they might become interested in what the advertisement is stating and go onto the website to help men
rule “one more thing.” The man used in the advertisement looks determined and not focused at the
viewer but what is ahead of him. Nike ads tend to avoid using the male gaze, which refers to “not just a
pose, but also a narrative device that alerts the viewers to a scenario” (Goldman, 123). This ad shows
just the man and no other model. This allows the viewer to not focus on analyzing the picture but seeing
the text on the poster. The white text pops out since it’s against a dark background along with the
bright, horizontal neon bars. The colored lights in the background give the illusion that he is running at
the speed of light. He is wearing an Ipod (which is what the Nike+ is available on) which is another
community aspect. Only people who have an Ipod can participate since the Ipod is what needed to run
the application. The fact that Nike and Apple teamed up shows the another consumer aspect to society.
Since society has become more mobile and functions at a faster pace, Apple created the Ipod in order
for people to listen to music on the go. Nike took full advantage of being the first sport brand to create a
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built in feature into an Ipod. Without the Ipod, one cannot be part of the Nike+ community. The desire
to be part of the community will force the viewer to go out and purchase the Ipod which will increase
sales for Apple along with Nike’s. The last detail in this ad is that the Nike logo has the plus sign on the
right of the swoosh to represent the Nike+ community. When altering a famous logo, even by adding
the plus sign, that will capture many people’s attention. The women’s and has similar aspects but Nike
knows that men and women react differently to different ads. Therefore, the women specific ad has
different components that the men specific lacks.
Looking into how women are represented, this advertisement might be more powerful. Nike
became very self aware of how women were perceived in their advertisements so they changed their
approach to attracting a women consumer. “Nike decided the ads needed to be “inspirational rather
than aspirational” (Goldman 126). Nike used the term autonomous ego, which describes a person who
has become who they are and is unwilling to change (Goldman 126). Nike decided realized they had to
attract women and men separately. In this advertisment (figure 2.2), the viewer sees a young, fit women
running, again not paying attention to the viewer but on the future. In this view, the Ipod is seen more
directly then in the men’s ad and after observing even closer, one can see that the she is using the Nike+
application while running. The tag line is different than the men’s; is states “Ladies first. Men second.”
This could be seen as having two references. This a traditional statement referring to men who should let
women women go first; an example is opening the door for them. But when this traditional statement is
put into a sport competitive advertising, it takes on a completely different meaning. When
contextualized, it is being used for a competitive aspect in the sense that women are going to win while
the men will lose. A woman who sees this will be intrigued and want to go onto the website. Nike is
able to create a female advertisement that isn’t sexist but attracts the competitive side to women. Again,
underneath the tag line, it tells the viewer to join the Men VS Women challenge at Nike+.
These advertisements are directed towards men and women respectively since Nike is able to
advertise to both in a respective format. Figure 2.1 could attract women since they could feel
competitive and not want the men to rule everything. While figure 2.2 could attract men since they
would want to be first. These advertisements have a strong competitive feel and encourage both genders
to become involved. Both advertisements were designed on a similar basis. A better example of how
Nike used similar physical advertisements is in figure 2.3 and 2.4. Both use similar taglines, “Go women
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go” (figure 2.3) and “Go man go” (figure 2.4) are used in the same context. Nike uses a similar graphic
design plan to be able to interchange between the men and women’s designs. The use of the light bars,
Nike+ logo, tag lines are consistent throughout the campaign. The main difference in how the models are
posed. The woman is standing in a dominant stance while the male looks determined while running.
Finally in figure 2.5, both the men and women are represented but the male gaze becomes apparent.
There is no significant tagline used but the only thing used is the Men VS Women challenge to attract the
men and female audience. The male is directly looking at the female who is just beating him by a stride
while the women is focused on what is ahead of her. The women is ignoring the man completely and is
focused on what is ahead. This advertisement focuses on the competitive spirit of the genders. This is
the only advertisement which uses the male gaze in the print advertising. Even though the women isn’t
being objectified, she is seen as competition and as something to beat.
Comparing the print advertisements and the commercial, there is a different feeling that each
gives off. The commercial gives off a childish feel since the men and women try to distract each other so
the opposite gender can win while establishing a competitive spirit. The print ads convey a more serious
and competitive tension between the sexes. The advertisements rely on each other since it takes two to
compete. As a whole, the campaign is highly effective in attracting new and loyal customers to Nike.
Nike does an effective job at physically showing the battle of the sexes in the running aspect in this
competition.
After the competition was done, Nike continued the Men VS Women challenge. This campaign
works very well in today’s society because not only does it get Apple and Nike’s name out, they are
connecting their customers to other’s world wide. This is an integral part to society today. We are able
to communicate to people who are on the other side of the world with a click of a button. Since Nike is
able to give the consumer more than the product itself, and the fact alone that joining is free, it forces the
consumer to question why not.
As one can see, the way Nike has been able to use their advertising skills has increasingly
grown since they’ve become more popular. Nike started off as a small sporting good business and has
grown to be one of the top grossing companies in the world. As Nike continues to grow, so has their
product line along with their campaigns. Since 2009, Nike has expanded their Nike+ into a new device
called Fuelband. This has become more exclusive since Nike members can be part of a new community
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in which the runner must have a Fuelband to be part of that community; even though they are using
Nike+. One can now just purchase the band instead of having to buy an Ipod through Apple to be part
of the Nike+ community. Today, Nike’s website has become an integral part where people can
communicate and compare each other’s stats. Using the battle of genders and the competitive spirit of
young runners was the inspiration for the campaign. As Nike grows, that competitive spirit is still
primitive along with gender equality shown within their advertisements.
Works Cited
Goldman, Robert, and Stephen Papson. Nike Culture: The Sign of the Swoosh. London: Sage
Publications, 1998. Print.
"History & Heritage." NIKE, Inc. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.
"Nike Commercial - Men vs Women Challenge." YouTube. YouTube, 25 Apr. 2009. Web. 27
Apr. 2014.
"Nike 1982 Ad." YouTube. YouTube, 29 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
Singer, Benjamin D. "Women and Advertising." Advertising & Society. Don Mills, Ont.:
Addison-Wesley, 1986. 104+. Print.
Sturken, Marita, and Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture.
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New York: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.
Figure 1.1
Figure 1.2
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Figure 2.1
Figure 2.2
Figure 2.3
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Figure 2.4
Figure 2.5