Nike Rapes Muhammed Ali

[Hannah Bell]

THERE ARE certain phrases so imbued with history, their mere recitation evokes a reaction. To hear the words "I have a dream" or "We shall not be moved" is to be involuntarily flooded with awe. For an advertising executive, the operative emotion is not awe but opportunity: These are just phrases waiting to become slogans, and the moment does not exist that's too sacred to be used to move merchandise.

No company is more effective at bleeding history of its content and turning it into a brand than the ad people at Nike. These are the folks who gave us the "I am Tiger Woods" ads, drawing on the expression of ancient slave solidarity, "I am Spartacus"--and who turned the Beatles "Revolution" into a jingle.

Well, Nike is at it again with LeBron James' heavily hyped new sneaker ad. The commercial shows James suffering--at times comically, at times plaintively--over the way his image has taken a beating since his free agent exit from the Cleveland Cavaliers. It ends with James saying defiantly, "Do I have to be who you want me to be?" Then comes the swoosh, and we fade to black.

The ad is slick, butter-smooth and would make a Mad Man proud. It's also, as Kevin Blackistone of AOL Sports wrote, "a desecration." LeBron and Nike's new slogan is a play on a famous phrase by the great Muhammad Ali, who 45 years earlier said, "I know where I'm going, and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be."

ALI DIDN'T say these words because he was mourning the loss of his brand power. He said them because he was suffering the consequences of his own political principles and wanted to make it clear that he couldn't be broken.

Ali had turned his back on not just white society but the mainstream civil rights movement by joining the Nation of Islam. He then chose to become the most famous draft resister in U.S. history by refusing to fight in Vietnam. That phrase, "I don't have to be what you want me to be," perfectly symbolizes a radical time when familiar roles were being turned on their heads. Ali was a boxer who hated war. He was a Black separatist who earned the affections of Dr. King. He faced down death threats and federal prison and paid a tremendous price, not least of which was near-universal scorn.

LeBron has in the past expressed his admiration of Ali. This ad, though, is like expressing your admiration for Dr. King by launching "I Have A Dream Cereal" or a laxative called "We Shall Not Be Moved."

I personally have no idea what I "want LeBron to be." Never thought about it. But after watching the ad, I know what I don't want him to be: the sort of person who would take Ali's sacrifice and courage and put them at the service of selling sneakers.

http://socialistworker.org/2010/11/15/profiles-in-desecration

[JVS]

1. The Beatles' "Revolution" deserved to be turned into a jingle, as it was counter-revolutionary.

[Hannah Bell]

4. There were two versions. one was, one wasn't (if you mean

the "count me out" line,) there was also the "count me out - in" version...

[Starbucks Anarchist]

2. "Rapes"? Really?

[Name removed]

5. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jancantor]

6. yup . Just like George Lucas did to Indiana Jones

It's becoming a trend...

[geomon666]

3. Get used to it

We're all well fucked by now. Past, present, and future.

[regnaD kciN]

7. What I "want LeBron to be" ...

...is "absent from my television set." :spank:

[SidDithers]

8. Unrec...nt

Sid

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[blondeatlast]

10. This is a tragedy, IMHO. As long as Nike stokes controversy to

sell hideously overpriced sneakers, though, it will continue.

LeBron James is a witty, charming, intelligent man; it's shameful that he bought into this bullshit.

[Obamanaut]

11. I have this overpowering urge to agree with you. And rec. nt

[thelordofhell]

12. Courage and Truth

"Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years."----Muhammed Ali

If there was a draft, we wouldn't have been in Iraq or Afghanistan. Insead of demonstrations, there would be riots. But now we're docile sheep because military service is "volunteer" (if you don't count the poor that have no choice and our hired mercenaries nobody wants to talk about).

[Greyhound]

13. K&R.

[Withywindle]

14. Can we not use "rapes" to talk about things that aren't rape, please.

I think this is horrible too. But it's not rape. It's also not a lynching. Nor is it a "massacre" or a "genocide" or a "holocaust."

I realize hyperbole has a useful place in speech, but it CAN be used in ways that don't trivialize real horrible experiences and hate crimes.

It's awful, yes. But it's a fucking shoe commercial. No one was actually raped in the making of this ad.