CHETAN KRISHNASWAMY forwards us the YouTube link for Nike‘s first cricket commercial in India, starring the people of India and two very special ones, Zaheer Khan and S. Sreesanth—shot at a very familiar Indian landmark, the Bombay traffic jam.
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“We wanted to show how cricket is played on the streets in India. These players are as tough, mean and hard as international cricketers,” says Agnell Dias, executive director of J. Walter Thompson, the company which did the commercial.
Marketing spiel aside, the real surprise is that Nike should associate itself with cricket, a game that is completely antithetical to its core philosophy.
In Nike’s book, winning is all. The company is infamous, even notorious, for its abrasive advertising. At the Olympics—which is what the cricket World Cup is—it puts up hoardings saying, “You don’t win silver, you lose gold.”
The implication: games are played to come first, those who stand second or third (or eighth) can go to hell and beyond. This is a company which has never heard of a draw, or a tie, the possibility of rain stopping play, or the Duckworth-Lewis method being applied.
That such a company should now be waxing eloquent of the fairest, most just, game played on the face of the planet, shows even the most agile legs, covered by the most blazing sneakers, can be brought to its knees by the colour and crackle of money.
Related link: Nike just did it!
great ad though!
Great idea
and KP i think that you are just over reacting. Its not like as if Nike is implanting their ‘just do it’ chips into the brains of our cricketers and transform them into mean ‘money gobbling winning androids’. Its just an ad. And how companies actually give a damn to preserving the integrity of the game? Pepsi? Coke? Reebok?
The Nike ad is great. It doesnt show cricketers drinking coke or endorsing a tyre or hair gel. it shows cricket like its played in the country. I’m not a cricket fan myself, but its such a pleasure to watch! I think Nike stands for winnng and giving sport your very best, when was anything wrong with that? I think the author of this article cant seem to achieve his best and therefore writes stuff like this.
I feel the same ..The AD is great and well made
Uncharitable… to say the least.
Cricket was not made great by people who also turned up to play. It was made great by the fantastic sportsmen who played to win but also kept the rules and fairplay in mind. Cricket is as much about walking when out, telling the umpire when you didn’t catch it, as much as it is about the assaults by batsmen and the thrill of a great catch.
Nowhere does Nike say ‘Do Drugs!’ or ‘Cheat to Win’… because doing either of these to win does not count as ‘winning’. Its not, shall we say, Cricket ;).
Yes, it’s a good looking ad but so what? Do we have to be such suckers for all things good looking? Nike is the neo-coloniser. Just like the British exploited India, Nike has a track record of exploiting its workers in South East Asia. Its sweatshops are well known. Its disdain for dissent and democratic values are well known. It sells a 10-dollar shoe for 20 times that price. No wonder its ads are good looking.
The point is that Nike doesn’t stand for the values cricket embodies, which is fair play and justice. Pure and simple. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy the commercial but we would be naive to ignore the irony.
check out:
http://www.dogeatdogfilms.com/mikenike.html
http://business.nmsu.edu/mgt/handout/boje/antinike/index.html
http://www.saigon.com/~nike/
Ramya K
Such profound wisdom! Then we should go back to Manu Smriti and the Caste System and all that.
Can’t we all just lighten up and enjoy the ad?
Cricket embodied these ideals–probably in the minds of the upper class English who when not buggering their peers were riding roughshod over their peasantry.
There is no fair play any more. Wake up and smell some Mysore Mallige with Coorg Coffee!!
Do we always think of minimum wages paid at coffee estates while drinking Coorg Coffee ?
Do we always think about farmers while doing ‘CHOUKASI’ while buying vegetables ( since farmer dont get minimum investment)?
We savour the nice beNNe dosai while the people who work in kitchens back work in harsh conditions .
Workers in garment factory work under all sorts of exploitations ?
Heege heeltha hodhre amele yellaru Batte bicchi SANYAASI ( JAIN MONK see earlier POST ) aagbeku aste .