HURT

I have always been drawn to advertisements for sports products. They are usually inspirational and encouraging, and they instill a certain pride in athletes.

This advertisement for Nike Air is a television commercial and is about a minute long. The ad is directed toward athletes and competitors from all types of sports. Various sports heroes are depicted not only doing what they love to do, but sometimes failing at what they love to do. Nike wants to attract serious athletes to their shoes, athletes who know about being “hurt” for their sport. The song playing in the background is by Johnny Cash, and it talks about hurting and feeling pain.

The story of this ad is that athletes don’t always succeed, and many times they go through a lot of pain. The tagline “A Little Less Hurt” indicates that Nike Air shoes are supposed to take a little of that pain away. All of the people in the commercial are hurting for their sport, which suggests that only serious athletes are those who endure pain and suffering.

Nike Air fails to provide any information about their product in this ad. The only thing that they tell us is that their shoes will add more comfort to the lives of athletes. Viewers are left to guess and wonder about the product. The commercial is in black and white, so the style and color of the shoes is not even made known.

Some underlying messages can be interpreted throughout the commercial. One main one is that buying the product will make the consumer into a true athlete, one that suffers and is so serious about their sport that they are hurt by it. This advertisement is trying to make the viewers believe that real athletes go through a lot of pain, and they need Nike Air to help them through it. If you are serious about your sport and devoted to it, then you probably suffer everyday to make yourself better.

Nike does not use words to sell this product, but clips of different athletes caught in moments of strife and failure. By using these clips, Nike is saying that the serious athletes shown in the commercial wear Nike products, which helps them get through the pain.

A number of different types of people are shown in the ad, including men and women. Some of these men and women are famous sports heroes. The ad takes place at numerous sporting events and different times. Sometimes, the sporting event is big and very public, but other times it is personal to the athlete.

The slogan, “A Little Less Hurt,” appears only once, along with the name of the product, at the end of the commercial. The Nike Air shoes are only shown in the last scene, and appear for only a short period of time. The song “Hurt” by Johnny Cash is playing throughout the ad, stressing the pain and strife that the athletes are going through.

Based on facial expressions and body language, the people in the ad are obviously enduring a lot of pain and discomfort. The black and white emphasizes the feelings and emotions that one gets when they are in pain.

The intended effects of the ad are to invoke a sense of pride in hurting for sport, and those athletes who do so need Nike Air. The product will take away pain that is caused by performance. An unintended effect might be that the commercial deters people from trying new sports because the people in the ad are in a lot of pain. The commercial depicts athletes in agony over their sports and does not make being athletic look like fun.

This advertisement is effective because it inspires me to keep running, even if I do get hurt because of it form time to time. It shows heroic people being humbled and frustrated by their sports, something that happens to average people often. The ad is shocking in the sense that it shows the darker side to sports that many commercials usually leave out. It illustrates what many athletes already know, that the rewarding aspect of athletics does not always come from winning, but from knowing that you tried your hardest.