The ability for an advertiser to influence popular beliefs and undermine critical thinking is arguably the greatest asset in attempting to promote a product or brand. Many companies do this regularly, causing individuals in society to believe that performance and livelihood can be improved by simply purchasing the right brand. This is especially prevalent when advertising for sporting goods, as the producer of the good must convince people that their brand is worth buying over myriad others. In my opinion, Nike has established an advertisement presence greater than nearly any other sports brand by individually targeting male and female children and young adults alike. This print ad features Lebron James in mid-jump, presumably about to dunk the basketball, and asserts that any spectator wants the dunk to happen, so much so that he or she will scream with anticipation. This is predicated by the fact that the observer will notice not only the incredible athletic feat, but also the brand that labels the basketball players main third-party asset - his or her shoes.
This all comes together and targets those young boys and men who watch the sport and recognize the skill and talent required to be good at basketball, as it is implied that James is a great player with the will and ability to win games. The audience then is given the impression that the brand and style of shoes that Lebron James wears have great impact on his skill as a player, equal to if not greater than the hours of practice and experience. This means that a male observing this ad should purchase Nike brand sportswear if he wants to become a more competent athlete without any real training. I wanted to undermine this assertion and illustrate that Nike is effectively telling consumers what to think and eliciting an emotion that will result in product sales - an end result that supersedes Nike's support of a winning team or great athlete. This was accomplished most by slightly altering the most well-known Nike trademark, "Just do it" and making a more realistic phrase, "Just buy it".
