The advertisement that I chose was a Nike/Foot Locker commercial promoting the Nike Lunarn Glide shoe. The video features Desean Jackson (NFL wide receiver) and Sanya Richards-Ross (team USA track and field athlete) who play the role of “teachers” to a group of student-athletes. The students are pictured running laps until they are exhausted, and are then asked questions about their summer training regimes. They are also asked if the new shoes they are wearing make them feel faster and lighter. All the athletes agree that they do. The camera then focuses on one athlete’s shoes and presents a quote saying, “Spot is back. Arrive ready.” The logos of Foot Locker and Nike are then presented.
I found that this advertisement heavily targeted individuals in my demographic. It interpellated/hailed me as a student aged athlete in North America, who wishes to perform well in the upcoming competitive season, and is willing to get any edge on the competition. I believe that the commercials ideal goal was to prey on athletes such as myself, who will do anything to improve their level of performance. As O’Shaughnessy and Stradler state, “This ‘hailing’ has the effect of putting us in our place or positioning the addressee in relation to the addresser”(2012). Nike and Foot Locker used notable and successful athletes as the addressers in their commercial. These addressers make the addressees (student-athletes) feel inadequate. It is when we feel as if we are missing something, that the company presents us with their product, which is supposed to improve our performance and turn us into successful athletes like the ones we idolize.
As an athlete myself I look up to the professional athletes in the commercial who have already achieved what I hope to achieve in the future. It is because I admire these athletes so much that I am willing to listen to anything they say, especially if it has to do athletics. For instance, when Desean Jackson says that the Lunar Glide’s make you faster, I actually believe him, and I am sure that’s just what Nike wants me to think. “B F Skinner and other behaviorist psychologists have suggested that all human activities are simply determined responses to external stimuli: in other words, we do not act, we react” (O’Shaughnessy and Stradler 2012). This quote completely embodies the purpose of Nike/Foot Lockers Commercial. They provide us with several stimuli, the feeling of being inadequate and opportunity to improve, and then we react by purchasing the shoes that we had no intention of buying before witnessing the commercial. I have no doubt that the sales for that particular shoe would be drastically lower if they had not taken advantage of the insecurities of my particular demographic group.
Although I realize that Nike/Foot Locker preys on athletes such as myself, I have to admit that they know exactly what to say and who to use to attract a certain product to a certain demographic. Nike is one of the largest and most powerful brands in the world, and I firmly believe that their success is profoundly due to their ability to interpellate people through advertisements.
Literature Cited
O’Shaughnessy, M. and Stradler, J. (2012), Media and Society 5th Edition, Oxford
University Press, Australia, pp.185,190
Skinner, B. F., (1976), About Behaviourism, Random House, New York.
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