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29-JUL-2024 | Nike’s “Objectify Me” Ad

Author

Dan Bogachek
July 29, 2024

Nike’s “Objectify Me” Ad

Objectify me.

Look at me, study me and understand me. Then, and only then, can you make my running shoes. Don’t give me small, pink versions of a man’s running shoes. I’m not a small, pink version of a man.

My joints are more flexible, so I need more flexible mid-soles. My hips are wider so I need a more stable crash pad. I have a lower foot height, so I need a lower, more contoured upper. My forefoot is wider, so I need a wider foot-bed. And my heels are thinner, so I need a sock-liner with a snug heel.

How do I know this? Because I can feel it and because Nike’s biomechanic research for the past 35 years has proved it. So why are they the only ones making shoes based on these findings?

Maybe because they spend more on research than all other running companies combined. Maybe because they are a company named after a female goddess. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because I send them E-mails every week with ideas on fit, fabric, features and design.

I’m Lauren Fleshman, I’m a runner and I’m a woman.

A masterclass in repetition and arrangement.

  • Subversion of expectations in the hook.

  • The first paragraph offers an immediate reversal to justify the subversion. The “small, pink version” couplet ending in “I’m not” sets up a question: “sure you’re not a man, but how exactly do you mean?”

  • And our answer: “my X are Y, so I need Z”. This repeated format serves as a device to illustrate the “how” to the “what” from the first paragraph.

  • Then a bridge. But not just a bridge — both questions in the whole piece get condensed into this one piece. A theme in itself.

  • Again, we see this — a repeated “maybe” used to illustrate the answer to a previously posed question.

  • Credibility for the punchline.

Push, pull. Call, response. Set, spike.

Hook → set → spike → set → spike → punchline.

You glance at your watch.

It’s 6:28. You’ve been at it since 3.
Crap. Your hot date is at 7. Running late. Sink shower it is.
Nowhere close to done editing…

“…at least all the ideas are laid out, so there’s that. Did I miss anything? I don’t think so? Ok, but how do I make it flow? I need to get the final draft to Stacey for design asap, team cutoff is at noon Thursday…”

You’ve spent dinner completely distracted. Your date just took off. You go home exhausted, plod to your desk, and crack open the laptop.

Or… it could go like this:

5:41 — you’re out of the shower and lip-syncing.
6:17 — dressed to the nines and zenned out.
7:03 — the sunset glints off your aviators as you smile hello.
8:36 — it actually feels like you’re hitting it off. Not just hot, funny to boot.
Next morning, 10:27 — polished draft ready in your inbox.
10:31 — Stacey messages back, “thanks, looks good!”

The difference?

You had Copygloss handle it yesterday afternoon.

For help with editing, email Dan:
[email protected].