Jake Graham
Nancy Cook
writing 122
February 15, 2010
A fit woman wearing a pink work out shirt with headphones around her shoulders turns her computer on and looks at the Nike webpage. There is a running contest world wide that any one can join, to determine if men or women are in better shape. She looks at her boy friend, who is sleeping on the couch, and says to her self women are way more athletic. She takes off running downtown where she speeds past a group of guys on the side walk. While running through the park, underneath the bright green trees, a bunch of women join her. The women come across a group of guys coming straight at them on the same trail. As they meet, the guys are forced off the trail as the women run by. The website shows that the women and men are now tied. Five girls give a disgusted look to a guy in an elevator. When the doors open they all take off sprinting as the camera zooms in on all of their Nike running shoes. One of the men runners sees a women jogging and sprints past her waving his hand at her. The stats show the men have passed the women. A Women running down the street sees the words “go men” written on the back of a mini van so she changes it to “go woman”. The Women speeds past a guy who stops on a hill for a break, he waves his arms at her in disbelief that the hill doesn’t phase her speed at all. Tony Parker (NBA player) looks for his shoes in his house as his wife is throwing them off the balcony. His wife laughs, knowing he won’t be able to run without his Nike’s. The ad shows the guy that was sleeping on the couch running and meeting up with his girl friend. They race each other while the score is tied and the street that their on is lined with people cheering. His girl friend pushes him out of the way so she can pull ahead of him. Tony Parker is now back at his house throwing all of his wife’s shoes off the balcony. The ad ends with the score being tied and writing that says join the men vs. women challenge at NikePlus.com. Nike does a great job marketing their shoes in this ad by promoting exercise, competition, and empowering women, although they don’t always empower the women who make their products.
Nike uses many different ways in this unique commercial to get people to buy their products. The ad is about the men vs, women running competition that Nike puts on. Nike makes running in this competition look like a fun event so people will join. The people who do enter the race will need to buy running shoes if they don’t have any. Most people will buy Nike’s since that’s who is putting on the race. Nike is also a very popular brand throughout they world. The ad is targeting women more than men even though both sexes are being promoted in the race. It shows women being empowered by the way they scowl at the guy sleeping on the couch and when they give the guy in the elevator a disgusted look. They also show them being empowered when the women meet the men on the trail and the guys are the ones jumping off the trail to get out of the way of the women. Nike just doesn’t target men and women athletes in the U.S. but all around the world to join this race of the sexes. This will broaden their popularity and help them sell more shoes. People watching this ad will see that all of the people running have outstanding athletic bodies. This will further encourage people to enter the race so that they can get their bodies looking like the athletes in the ad.It also encourages people to become healthier and exercise more. The ad includes many international athletes so people, all over the world, will recognize the athletes that all wear Nike shoes. The music plays a role in the ad because it’s upbeat and makes you motivated to get up and run.
Even though Nike targets women in this ad by showing them to be empowered this isn’t always the case with some of Nike’s female employees. Nike has sweatshops in many countries including Vietnam, China, and Indonesia (Lormand). Ninety percent of Nike’s employees in sweatshops are young uneducated women (Lormand). “A sweatshop is a work place, often a factory, in which employees work long hours at low wages under poor conditions” (Women and Sweatshops). Women sweatshop workers only get paid around ten to twenty cents an hour (Women and Sweatshops). Sweatshops don’t pay their employees overtime in fact some workers don’t get paid at all. Sweat shop factories and living quarters are normally filthy and unsafe (Women and Sweatshops). In Vietnam and China 77% of the workers have respiratory problems from chemicals (Lormand). Many women are sexually abused for false promises of better jobs (Woman and Sweatshops). Managers threaten and punish their employees so they become to scared to stand up for them selves. Some factories have barbed wire fences and armed guards surrounding them just like a prison (Woman and Sweatshops). However, Nike does many good things even though they use sweatshops.
When we shop for shoes, should we not buy from Nike because some of their shoes were made in sweatshops? It’s hard not to buy products that have been made in sweatshops since so many companies use them. These companies include: Phillips-Van Heusen, Disney, Guess?, The Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Tommy Hilfiger, Reebok, Levi Straus, Liz Caliborne, Ralph Lauren, Mattel, Wal-Mart, Roohsing, and Kohl's (MacNevin). If it was a perfect world everyone would make good money and be happy, but it’s not. Sweatshop employee’s usually live in such poverty that without that job they may starve to death. Many companies, such as Nike, don’t actually own the factories where their products are produced so Nike is not totally responsible for the existence of sweatshops. The government that allows these factories should make them illegal, set a decent minimum wage, and have better regulated working conditions. Nike promotes women to be competitive with men by showing them to be just as good as men in their ad. If the women, who work in sweatshops, become empowered then hopefully some of them won’t get stuck in sweatshops.
Nike is a very successful company that promotes positive and unfortunately some negative aspects of life. Most of the public in our country would strongly disapprove of the use of sweatshops but they also continue to buy their products. The fact that so many companies use sweatshops makes it hard not to buy from them. Nike provides America with a huge selection of athletic gear that generally makes their consumers happy. At least Nike promotes women and men to be equal with healthy competition, and for everyone to get up and exercise so that they can be a healthier person.
Works Cited
Lormand, Eric. Facts and Faqs about Nikes labor abusers. Web. 21 Feb. 2010.
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"Women and Sweatshops." Woman and Global Human Rights. Web. 21 Feb. 2010
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MacNevin, Suzanne. Fashionistas Against Sweatshops . Web. 21 Feb. 2010. .
