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Nike hearts 'real women', too.
An article on AdAge.com talks about new work from Wieden + Kennedy (Portland) that "celebrates 'Big Butts, Thunder Thighs and Tomboy Knees.'" Similar to the Dove ads in targeting "real women", the article actually talks about how this campaign follows the same trend as the Dove ads but how it also goes beyond Dove and is setting itself apart. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the Dove ads are for women who are just larger, and the Nike ads are for women who are larger (or who feel something about them is different) because of the countless hours they put in playing sports and exercising?
I like the approach. I like all but the "My Butt is Big..." ad. The copy didn't get me like in the other two. I'm also not too sure about the art direction (what are those water colored designs in the background?), but I think this campaign does a good job targeting the type of "real women" they are going after.
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» Celebrating Real Women from Beyond the Brand
I really liked Nicool's post over at Room 116 about the new Nike women's advertising: An article on AdAge.com talks about new work from Wieden Kennedy (Portland) that celebrates 'Big Butts, Thunder Thighs and Tomboy Knees.' Similar to [Read More]
Tracked on Aug 23, 2005 11:46:37 AM
» Celebrating Real Women from Beyond the Brand
I really liked Nicool's post over at Room 116 about the new Nike women's advertising: An article on AdAge.com talks about new work from Wieden Kennedy (Portland) that celebrates 'Big Butts, Thunder Thighs and Tomboy Knees.' Similar to [Read More]
Tracked on Aug 23, 2005 6:34:40 PM
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from Castro said Tuesday
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Comments
I think the main difference between this and the Dove stuff is that Dove is saying, "It's okay that you're not as pretty as the models we usually use. Here's some stuff to help you make do with your rolls, girl" whereas Nike is not talking about women who've let themselves go, but who have rather sculpted themselves into strong, athletic women who couldn't give a damn what some pasty, pot-bellied man deems visually pleasing. Dove is showcasing a "curvy" woman, shot from below, standing proud just like I've seen kids with Downs syndrome photographed to publicize the special olympics. ("Yay, fat chick! Good for you! You're all winners. We're proud of you! Here! Have a snack-pack.") Nike's communications hail from the school of owning your body, not making excuses for it, lowering your standards or trying to cover it up.
Now, while I'm happier about the Nike stuff than I am about what Dove did, I still think the next step is to incorporate real, everyday women into visual media without having to segregate them into their own "special" campaigns. (Holla, Bryan and Luissa. Lux '04, son.)
Posted by: John | Aug 16, 2005 6:15:00 PM
Art Director was Mira Kaddoura, adcenter alum.
Posted by: William | Aug 18, 2005 12:46:24 PM
The problem is no one wants to see ordinary woman. Ordinary women don't want to see ordinary women. No one aspires to ordinary. That's advertising.
I don't dig this new campign. I don't buy it. Allan Iverson might have freakishly big hands... that allow him to palm basketballs, so what? His hands are freakishly big, and help him earn millions a year. Whatever. Nike, you're not telling me anything interesting at all...
Posted by: chris | Aug 18, 2005 11:07:25 PM
My take:
All the ads succeed in doing is making the point that Nike is trying to be politically correct. Ok – we get it Nike, you don’t want us to think you promote “female body as fantasy object”. Inevitably the ads will be compared to Dove’s “Real women, Real curves” campaign but the only real comparison is that Nike “Wants to be like Dove”.
The Dove ads are emotive because they are demonstrative. Dove makes a statement without being preachy. Alter the copy of the Dove ads and they’d fail. Failure would read something like this: “Here at Unilever, we feel that fat butts and bellies can look good too”. Or, how about if they quoted some fictitious average chick with copy like: “I like my fat butt because I use Dove to make my excessive skin look great”.
"Real" people promoting product is a great strategy for connecting to the emotions of a target market. If Nike demonstrated the healthy success of real women with copy like, “I want to be like Jill” followed by images of women cast from your local gym, the campaign would have succeeded. I see impressive “normal” women every day at my gym. Tell people that they should like their Thunder thighs because Nike says they are OK, and you don’t connect to anything but corporate BS. Get the difference?
Posted by: Bruce DeBoer | Aug 24, 2005 11:59:25 AM
Is watered down Charlotte Moore is better than none at all? Is random watercolor splashes unrelated to concept better than none at all?
Is Nike the hardest client ever to do good work for because you've got to beat everything that's come before?
Posted by: Dean | Sep 1, 2005 1:24:58 PM
these ads are similar to the ones that Lady Foot Locker is doing. real life stuff. Lady Foot Locker's ads are better though. they aren't as pushy as the Nike ads and tackle all sorts of topics for real women, not just physical, but mental.
Posted by: John | Jan 4, 2006 11:57:41 AM
The whole Nike real women ad campaign controversy is SO lame. If Nike wants to showcase real women who are proud of their bodies, more power to them. Nobody else has done it. I think that it is more important for women to be proud of themselves than for anyone else to think they are beautiful or "hot".
Posted by: Marissa | Jan 16, 2006 6:24:00 PM
Waitaminute. Let's get something straight. These are not "real women" in these ads. These are EXCEPTIONAL women who have worked hard to attain the bodies (and the scars) they have. This isn't about women asking the world to accept them as they are. (great analogy re: Special Olympics) This is about EXCEPTIONAL women telling the world that WE exceptional women:
**Define ourselves by our achievements, and building a healthy body is damn hard and something we consider to be an achievement to be proud of
** Don't give a damn about what conventional beauty is. STRENGTH = BEAUTY. And we don't care if that scares you, young men and starving women.
Unfortunately, I think I understand why the art direction is what it is... it's an attempt to be hip and soft at the same time. But I think that if these ads had gone in a more photographic/americana direction instead of trying too hard to look graphically hip, it would have taken away that "hollowness/aloneness" that I think people are reacting to. It's OK for these ads to be soft. But they also need to look comfortable, because that's what we're talking about here...women putting their foot down and staking a claim in being comfortable in our own skin and being "Hell Yeah I'm An American" proud of ourselves. And the art distances that feeling (IMHO) from the text. Anyway, that's my 2 cents.
Posted by: ME | Feb 15, 2006 7:36:18 PM
it's a shame that a woman would have to read a beauty magazine and actually feel WORSE about themselves. and the fact that you guys are creating a discourse about body image is exactly what Dove and Nike are trying to provoke. would you rather Dove talk just about 1/4 moisturizing cream? if so, you'd have a pretty boring blog.
Posted by: dlo | Feb 19, 2006 5:00:28 PM
I think that the nike big is beautiful campaign is wonderful. That it shows that not all women look like the supermodels in and on the front covers of magizines. I have personaly fell for what i thought society wanted me to be. I am now a recovering form annorexia. I was wondering if there is any way that i could recieve the big is beautiful campaign poster so i can have those inspirational thoughts all around me?
Posted by: sydney | Mar 8, 2006 4:56:07 PM
I love the new NIKE ads!!!! Love them to death... they inspire me .. NIKE makes me say yeah ya know what.. I may have a big butt and thunder thighs but I am the s*** and no one is gonna bring me down about my body because I am my body and my body is me and I am proud of that!!!... dove never did that for me
Posted by: courtney | Apr 10, 2006 8:46:36 PM
These ads look like they're trying to literally feminize butch women. Scarred knees.....But with Watercolors!
They read like they're trying to toe the line between hysterical lesbian (I made these thunder thighs, so fuck off!) and woman who might enjoy the occasional cock thrown at her (Mall sales! Marriage! Short dresses! Love!).
So....what's the uptake? It ain't Dove. The women in the Nike ads aren't fat at all.
I can't claim to understand the logic behind Dove's campaign message: "You're fat is beautiful cause it's connected to a vagina! BUY OUR FACE CREAM!"
BUT THERE ARE FAT GIRLS OUT THERE, and they like the idea that a bunch of fellow chunkers got modelling gigs. So. I get it. And you can't tell me they're trying to do anything else without descending into meaningless "empowerment" blather...
Truth: The word "fat" can be a put down (shut up, fatty!) and an objective descriptor (she's got fat thighs!). That's because fat is imperically ugly. And don't give me this "Rubenesque" bullshit. Fat women were beautiful in the middle ages because fat meant you weren't dying of the plague.
But the Nike ads don't have fat. So what's the Nike campaign trying to do? De-dyke muscularity. Can an ad do that? No. Can an ad pretend to be able to do that, in an effort to gain the love and trust of fellow muscular non-dykes? That's the idea.
Posted by: Dean | Apr 12, 2006 3:02:38 PM
To Dean
" Fat is imperically ugly " - you must be crazy . Female fat - in moderation - is so very wonderfull !
" Rubenesque bullshit " ? You can be bullshit yourself,Sir - and this rubbish about : " Fat women were beautiful in the middle ages " just shows that besides being an ignorant in matters of female beauty , you also don`t know anything about history . The age for fat women - bless them - were in Victorian times ( and of course in many others , just not much in the middle ages ) .
As for plauges : at least you timed that right . A pitty , we don`t have some of it - for you !
Best wishes , Carsten Clausen , Danmark
Posted by: Carsten Clausen | May 28, 2006 5:20:30 AM
Is there anywhere that I might be able to by the collection of the nike women campaign posters ( the one about the shoulders, butt, knees, legs....)
Posted by: Lee | Aug 4, 2006 8:37:43 PM
Posted by: Dan | Sep 6, 2006 10:47:30 AM
I think that these ads are very good and important, but the ads them selves have been air brushed or changed in some way by a computer. THE REAL issues here that we live in a society that is so focused on the wrong shit. I don't go for this models are so beautiful movie stars are so beautful its crap, its all bull shit lies. All this beauty crap is a sale and so are you if you buy into it. Life is to short to spend any time being a fake person inside or out. Its to bad a that a girls even feel that they have to justify being human, were not painted images on a mag. Live your LIFE it wont matter how big your butt is when your dead.
Posted by: Sarah | Jun 5, 2009 11:08:18 PM
FINALLY, Something that represents the masses.I meet many women,extremely athletic with meat on their bones.
However, in the Fashion world We are considered FAT.Unhealthy and unappealing to the eye. Please continue to Push this campaign.This is extremely realistic.
.--
“I'm no model lady. A model's just an imitation of the real thing.”- Mae West
Posted by: Jai Robinson | Jun 6, 2009 4:26:27 PM
