If you happened to watch ESPN over the weekend, there’s a good chance you saw the latest Nike puppet ads featuring Blitzen, he of Santa’s reindeer fame, laying down some smack on Santa, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. Read more »
Nike didn’t want you to see Lebron James getting dunked on by college basketball star Jordan Crawford, allegedly confiscating and censoring the footage. Little good that did them. TMZ posted some blurry clip, but Ebaum has clear video of the rather anticlimactic incident. |Deadspin|
Nike officials allegedly confiscated videotapes from two cameramen who filmed Xavier University’s Jordan Crawford dunking on Lebron James at his eponymous skills academy. Since the basketball camp has no policy against filming, and didn’t have a problem with any other footage, it seems that Nike simply censored the footage before the embarassment to their sponsored star became viral. |Deadspin|
Technically, Nike can’t be held directly responsible for this footwear atrocity that was pieced together by the sneaker customizing zealots at Solefood. The ‘Canal Street’ Air Force Ones were designed to supposedly “bring awareness to the fake industry” or something. By what, replicating it? The kicks feature a patchwork of the luxury brands most likely to be counterfeited in the neighborhood notoriously known for proliferating knock-offs. |KicksOnFire|
Help This Kid Kanye!
Tomorrow, Kanye West’s ridiculous looking, yet highly sought after Nike collaborated Air Yeezy sneakers come out. With only a limited amount available, sneakerheads have already began camping out in front of the Foot Locker on 34th Street, right across from Macy’s. The first few people have been there since yesterday morning and don’t plan on moving despite what the security guards tell them or this shadowy website. Craziest of all, there’s no guarantee they’ll even get a pair. Watch as this kid pleads with ‘Ye to show some support: “Hopefully Kanye can come hold it down with us, man. Cause we’re doing this for the shoes. We’ve been out here, it’s cold out here. And we got the Swine Flu out here.”
Following a year-long sting, investigators seized $20 million dollars in counterfeit goods from a Red Hook storage facility. The haul included typical Canal Street counterfeit fare by Coach, Prada, Ralph Lauren as well as some counterfeit Nikes plastered with Barack Obama’s face. “It’s frankly just disrespectful to have the president of the United States depicted on these sneakers,” said District Attorney Charles J. Hynes. “Just absolutely disgraceful.” |NYDN|
It seems as though Nike athletes will go to war this weekend in a new function-focused line the swoosh has dubbed “Pro Combat” that will debut at all star weekend in Phoenix. Star b-ballers like LeBron James, and Amare Stoudemire (pictured) will rock this two-piece under layer monstrosity that according to Nike, will provide hip, thigh, and ribcage protection.” As Nike Sport Apparel and Innovation Creative Director Todd Van Horne explains “Nike Pro Combat is a breakthrough solution for basketball players engaged in battle in the blocks and perimeter.” Note to the Nike Campus security guards: Cut the swoosh basketball designers key card access off to the Lance Armstrong building immediately.
Not only is labor market drying up, but also the creative pool of ideas for Nike apparently. How else can you explain this Teen Wolf themed sneaker? It was released as part of the brand’s “Media Pack” and pays homage to Michael J. Foxx’s furry, basketball playing character Scott Howard from the 1985 movie that wasn’t relevant back then either. UPDATE: As a commenter and this guy notes, Teen Wolf wears adidas in the movie. |LOUDreams|
Back in July, Nike was forced to pull a series of posters for its Hyperdunk basketball sneaks that overly-sensitive critics complained were homophobic (they weren’t). Well, the West 4th St. subway tunnel here in NYC was recently re-plastered with a different set of posters for the popular shoe—including this tea-bagging shot with a line that those same critics won’t be happy to read. In fact, I think this execution is actually much closer to homophobic than the first ones. I heard through the grapevine that the ad creatives at Nike agency Wieden + Kennedy responsible for the work were damn pissed about the ads being pulled. Looks like agency and client purposely decided to see if they could create another media kerfuffle.
West 4th Street subway station. Photo: Copyranter (click image to enlarge)
Nike has produced a new ‘Just Do It’ TV spot for the Beijing Olympics titled “Courage.” Today’s athletes? Courageous? Please, more like Coddled. It opens with a title board that reads: Everything You Need Is Already Inside. I’m sure the people of Tibet and Taiwan will find it very inspiring. AdWeek and AdAge posted articles on it yesterday that were basically expanded press releases for the $16 billion company. The commercial, which includes 31 “Nike athletes,” is admittedly wonderfully edited (It ends with footage of double amputee South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius). The soundtrack is provided by bland band The Killers’ and their song “All These Things That I’ve Done”—which features the refrain “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier.” How profound, and perfect for China! Watch the spot, and tell me what you think. I think it feels too much like a hastily thrown together Nike ode to Nike. I would expect better for the Olympics.
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