Recently there was a burst of emotional reactions on social media when NBC aired Nike commercial ‘Dream Crazy’ during the third quarter of the season opening games between two NFL teams. Listening to the television anchors speak about the controversy of the ad, and not being knowledgeable on the subject sparked my curiosity. I searched this ad on YouTube and after being published on YouTube on September 5, 2018 it has been viewed 26,537,896 times to date. The duration of this ad is approximately two minutes and features sixteen athletes. The ad is a narration of the players and their stories of how they dared to live their “crazy” dreams.
The ad begins with a skate board player trying hard to balance himself on the rail, but falling off multiple times while skating, a disabled child with no legs doing pushups competing in a wrestling match putting his efforts to pull his opponent down, women boxing, her head completely covered with head scarf making something unique about her appearance, a man surfing on high tides, a girl on a wheelchair bouncing two basketballs with both her hands. It further shows a young boy running down on a rough path and makes a transition to a man running to reach a finish line. A man taking picture with his phone camera when he is obese, and another clip showing him taking picture after he is transformed into a smart looking man who won a race. As the narrator mentions about ‘home coming queen’ it show a girl wearing a beautiful dress and a crown on her head holding a flower bouquet and in the next image she stands confident with her team all wearing maroon colored sport shirts. It continues with different teams playing football, showing US Soccer Women’s National team cheering a victory, a renowned tennis star Serena Williams. These video clips are accompanied with narration, “If people say your dreams are crazy, if they laugh at what you can do?”
Because what non-believers fail to understand a coin to dream crazy is not an insult, it’s a compliment. Don’t try to be the fastest runner in your school or the fastest in the world be the fastest ever. Don’t picture yourself wearing LBJ jersey picture LBJ wearing yours. Don’t settle for home coming queen or Linebacker, do both. Lose 120 LBS and become an iron man after beating a brain tumor. Don’t believe you have to be like anybody. If you are born a refugee don’t let it stop you from playing soccer for the national team at the age sixteen. Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything. When they talk about the greatest team in the history of sports make sure it’s your team. If you have only one hand don’t just watch football, play it at the highest level. If you are girl from Compton don’t just become a tennis player, become the greatest athlete ever”. It ends with Collin Keapernick a former San Francisco 49ers quarterback saying, “So don’t ask if your dreams are crazy ask if they are crazy enough.”
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In this video all of the players are wearing shirts, trousers, shorts, shoes or wrist bands, and they all have the Nike logo printed. Brands tend to influence their customers by publishing ads that are appealing. By featuring athletes from different sports each having unique success story, it targets their fans and sports fans in general. In addition to that use of motivational phrases gives a meaning to it which influences the public emotionally. This ad certainly encourages people to pursue their dreams by trusting their abilities and breaking limitations created by negative people. Besides protest against controversy linked to this ad overall, the company is up 28 percent this year.
