The athlete in this advertisement is Wayne Rooney, a soccer player on the England National team. Nike has some of my favorite ads because of the amount of different target audiences they direct their ads towards. Whether it's Nike Women, Men, or Children, the ads all have a similar format of simplicity and directness. I feel this ad is one of the stronger ones in Nike's latest advertisements. In this ad Wayne Rooney is displayed as a die hard athlete that lives and breaths a sport, and yet in this ad he is also relating to any die hard fan. It's a great idea because not only do their ads promote their name brand, but it promotes loving the sport or hobby a person has, even if he or she is only a fan. This creates customer loyalty because people like when ads feel personal because it motivates them to keep running, exercising, or playing whatever sport it is that they play.
Although the advertisement had a lot of negative comments about Rooney's "warrior and aggressive" pose, I do not find it offensive at all. Nike had been attacked several times about the image being hurtful to the English Church, but Nike responded with, 'The red paint is not meant to be blood, it's just echoing the body paint which fans cover themselves in and the rest of Wayne's body is painted white. It's the flag of St George, and nothing else. The ad did not run nationwide or in other countries.
I feel as though some of the best advertisements are ones that create controversy, so I think it is a influential and strong ad.
This website is where I read about Nike being attacked. It also has a blog on the bottom with other people's personal opinions which were interesting.
