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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Update: 7/28 The Human Rights Campaign has just confirmed via their Back Story blog that Nike has pulled their latest controversial ad campaign. The move came after criticism surfaced on various GLBT and sports blogs according to HRC.
Images from the new Nike ad campaign have surfaced online and the reviews are definitely mixed. Most of the shots show two men in an aggressive game of basketball with one player's face buried in the crotch of his opponent with the subtitles" That Ain't Right", " Punks Jump Up", "Isn't That Cute", and "Now You Know".
I'm not entirely convinced that Nike set out to create homophobic advertising to promote their products, after all this is a game where men are constantly walking around the court slapping each other on the ass. But for those people who tend to over analyze everything(I'm guilty) these ads will definitely have a double meaning.
Is the campaign completely harmless or completely homophobic? I guess it depends on who you're talking to. What do you think?
7 Comments:
The people who create the ads we see on TV and elsewhere know EXACTLY what they're doing. Completely homophobic.
July 23, 2008 7:40 AM
From a design standpoint I love them, the message is very in your face (pun intended) but I a little on the edge, but I don't take offense to them.
If anything they are pretty homoerotic!
July 23, 2008 11:11 AM
tough one...there are some people who are going to think that the "isn't that cute" ad is racist because the black guy is getting a knee to the jaw by a white guy? :-/
as a former avid b-ball player and still very much a fan, i think much of what is contained in the ads is trash talk...trash talk that i have heard on the court slung at a variety of people.
i think the interpretation of the ads depends on your own personal perspective. for me, it's no different than seeing an ad where someone got crossed on and the caption read about breaking someone's ankles... IDK...just my opinion.
July 23, 2008 12:39 PM
Isn't Michael Jordan's brand gym shoe heavily associated with Nike? He's not known as being particularly gay friendly.
July 23, 2008 12:48 PM
The first ad says "that ain't right" over a picture of a man's crotch in another man's face. If that was a picture of a WOMAN'S crotch in his face, he wouldn't be saying "that ain't right".
The third ad says "punks jump up". The word punk has different meanings in different cultures but in the black culture the word "punk" is synonymous with the word "faggot".
All four ads depict an image of a man's face in another man's crotch. The words in each ad indicate that a man's crotch in another man's face (suggesting oral sex between two men) is "wrong".
July 25, 2008 4:47 AM
i think if you look at ads to have a homophobic undertone then that is what you see. if i look at the "isn't that cute" ad with a racial undertone then that is what i will see.
i have read other comments/articles on these ads. one comment that was particularly interesting was from a gay basketball league participant, who didn't see the ads as homophobic, but rather what takes place on the court daily. he was viewing the ad from a purely competitive standpoint. when true ballers hear these words utter on the court, we understand where they are coming from...if anything, there is more of a sexist undertone than anything else. more often than not, when words like these are uttered on the court, it is to let someone know they are playing kinda girlish (no matter the gender)...but then again, true ballers get that...
if you heard these phrases spoken on an actual court during the game (with the same images), would you feel the same? that it is homophobic? or does it only become homophobic in print?
July 25, 2008 9:54 PM
My first reaction was: "Damn, that's hot!"
July 28, 2008 12:08 AM
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