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Head of Creative at Lounge | Tedx Speaker | Cannes Future Lions & Creativepool Judge | Creative Marketer of the Year Award 2022 🏆 Coach & Consultant
This new Nike ad is causing CHAOS 🤯 Here's why: When I first watched this ad a few days ago, my immediate reaction was F*CK YEH NIKE STORYTELLING IS THE BEST IN THE WORLD. It begins: 'Am I a bad person?' And then continues: 'I'm single-minded. I'm deceptive. I'm obsessive. I'm selfish. I'm never satisfied. I don't respect you. I have an obsession with power. I'm irrational. I have zero remorse. I have no sense of compassion. I'm delusional. I'm maniacal.' 'I think I'm better than everyone else. I want to take what's yours and never give it back.' And then it ends: 'Does that make me a bad person? Tell me, does it?' I was TRIGGERED! In the best way possible. Because there's a side of me that has felt all of the above. The side of me that wants nothing more than to be successful. The ruthless side that keeps a fire burning in my belly. Tbh, it the spice that gets me back up when I've been knocked down. It's not all of me. Of course it's not. I can balance every one of those sentences with words of empathy, compassion and selflessness. But, I often feel selfish, obsessed and never satisfied. I'm chasing my dreams. And that takes a lot of the traits listed above. So then I jump into the comments of the video and see that people are HATING. Someone comments: "If you're guessing what's wrong with the world, well this is it." Someone else: "Poor message sent for the kids." I dug deeper. The script is narrated by actor Willem Dafoe. He's the voice of the Marvel villain, Green Goblin. He brings the words to life in a way only a villain would. Except, for me, the words are simply symbolic of an inner-monologue. One we say to ourselves. Even when our actions show something different. The audio is juxtaposed with visuals of iconic and globally celebrated athletes. People we would consider to be: Heroes. THAT'S when the beauty of Nike storytelling shone brighter for me. I think that the beautiful friction between hero and villain is what makes this ad so special. We, as humans, don't want to believe that good and evil exist together. We want to believe that they are separate. But we, as humans, are the prime example of both combined. We are multi-faceted. And athletes? To be an olympic winner, you HAVE to have traits of this script. To spend every hour of your life preparing for a world event like this. And then to cope with the insane pressure on the day. You have to be SO delusional that in the moment, you don't feel remorse. All you really feel is that gold medal, hanging heavily around your neck. I agree, kids should be taught to be team players. To have empathy. And be selfless. But I also think they should be taught that to be the best at anything, you have to make sacrifices. That's life. That's the reality. Does that make us bad people? Or maybe Nike were right: 'Winning Isn't for Everyone.' Credit: Wieden Kennedy