Nike's Olympic Ad Misses the Mark

Nike recently launched its Olympics-themed 'winning isn't for everyone' ad and I feel somewhat troubled by its tone and message.

Between this and adidas’ ‘Hey Jude’ EUROS ad, where adidas focused their efforts on an individual players over the team, there is an evident consistency of emphasis on the individual athlete pursuit and the requirements for success in sports by leading sportswear brands and I think it is the wrong message.

For the purpose of this piece let's focus on Nike's spot, which hones in on the selfish and ego-driven inner voice. The Nike ad features a range of its star athletes to effectively leverage the idea that these selfish thoughts and ambitions are justified when the output is 'winning'. Reading between the lines it appears Nike's view of success and victory is in holding awards and recognition.

The ad contains powerful words:

"I have no empathy, I don't respect you, I'm never satisfied, I have an obsession with power"

I understand the message and I also understand that we all have a shadow side, an ego, a want to achieve at all costs, but it is a dated message and one that needs reforming.

It feels elitist, designed for few, and I can only assume that it is perhaps targeted at those seeking to become professional athletes? But then, why would Nike target this small pool of people? And does this fit within its brand ethos and 'Just do it' messaging from years gone by?

Is this the mindset we want people engaging in sports to adopt across all levels? Is it also not alienating to young girls? Research in the UK has previously highlighted that in schools that this ultra-competitive emphasis on sports has a negative affect on participation numbers in schools.

I won't dive too much further into this, it is just an ad after all.. But there is, to my mind at least, a somewhat concerning tonality to leading influential sportswear brands deviating from the true meaning and power of sport to unify people. Let’s think of it another way - does the personality / attitude Nike is conveying support us socially around the world’s biggest and most notable goals (climate etc?) I feel like these mega brands should be pursuing narratives of unity and what can be achieved together. On our world today we should all be striving to win - together. Perhaps that message doesn’t ‘sell’ as much yet?

At Way to Play we have literally built an ‘excellence framework’ - a set of modules to integrate the true meaning of sport in to messaging and storytelling within organisations and this totally contradicts it.

Within this context we pride ourselves on view such as:

"you're opponent is your greatest teacher"

"Team success trumps individual accolades"

These YouTube comments on the Nike video are pertinent. For most people, I'd suggest it captures it neatly:

"Winning isn’t for everyone but Nike needs to see a therapist"

"As a high school coach trying to teach good sportsmanship…thanks for making harder for me. All were signs of a champion accept lack of respect type comments. I get what they were trying to say, but they said it wrong in my opinion."

Perhaps this is the point all along. That it is targeted at the group of people who care about winning above all else. But again, I struggle to understand why Nike would go down this route - there are so many other directions they could have taken.