Inspiring Action: D&R

The two campaigns that I have identified for the purpose of this dissection and reflection blog both belong to the athletic wear industry. The first campaign is entitled "Bruises Can be Good" by Dentsu for Reebok India, the other is entitled "Love Your Dream Until It Loves You Back" by Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam for Nike in collaboration with French soccer player Kylian Mbappé.

The Reebok campaign was created in honor of National Women's Day and contains one primary video that is 3 minutes in length. The video shows a diverse group of individuals entering an empty room and sitting down in chairs that circle a single empty seat. After the individuals sit down an extremely bruised women enters the room and sits in the chair. The participants are asked to guess where her bruises came from and the advertisements includes several personal responses that illustrate the majority consensus. Almost every individual guesses that she has been abused and many express anger and or sympathy towards her situation. She then stands up from the chair and steps forward towards the sitting participants and begins to punch and kick the air, thus revealing that she is a boxer and her bruises are from fighting. Her voice plays over the advertisement saying "my bruises can be good, they are a sign of my strengths not my weaknesses".

This video advertisement concludes with several messages displayed on a black screen. They reveal that 85% of participants believed the woman had been a victim of physical abuse. After the true cause of her bruises is revealed they show several reactions from participants who applaud her for her strength and mention the inspiration she is to them. Black screened messages then continue with a callout for all women to become #FitToFight, followed by a plea to sign a petition to make self-defense mandatory for female students, and finally their campaign hashtag #BruisesCanBeGood followed by logo and slogan.

The other campaign I am focusing on also revolves around a single primary video. This video depicts French soccer (football) star Kylian Mbappé as child and also as his present self. It plays clips of him practicing and playing as a young child followed by him doing the same things as a young adult. The scenes shown are accompanied by phrases such as "he watches hours of football instead of cartoons" paired with his current self that says "he watches hours of football instead of movies" and others such as "he counts every goal at practice" paired with his current self that says "he STILL counts every goal at practice". The final set of comparative scenes shows him playing "then" and "now" with the same message appearing on each: "just a kid in love with soccer". The final message which concludes the advertisement is the slogan of the campaign itself, in the classic Nike font and black screen words display that read "love your dream until it loves you back" and the advertisement ends with Nike's logo and "just do it" slogan.

While both of these campaigns were created for athletic wear brands and aim to inspire their audience, their messages contrast on many levels. The Reebok ad seems to be less about increasing athleticism and more about empowering women; I would infer here that this was brand advertising aimed to increase positive sentiment among their audience. On the other hand, the Nike advertisements seems to be directed primarily towards athletes. I would infer here that Nike likely is aiming to inspire athletes to work hard towards their dreams while subsequently identifying their brand as one made for winners.

Beyond just the goal of their campaigns, differences can be seen in the emotion and tone of the videos produced. The tone of the Reebok video begins fairly dark and sad but then transitions to an uplifting and inspirational tone. Although the bruised woman shown in the Reebok ad was revealed to have a positive reason for her bruising, the initial introduction of the woman ultimately portrays a feeling of empathy which is used to catalyze action among viewers. In contrast, the Nike ad depicts a constant inspirational tone from beginning and end; portraying the emotion felt from overcoming obstacles and achieving success.

While I can appreciate the empowering message attached to the Reebok ad, their messaging seems a little risky. Although they do not directly under value the pain felt by victims of abuse, intentionally implying that the bruised woman was abused came off as a little politically incorrect to me. The advertisement called for viewers to disassociate the negative connotation that comes with bruises, and also advocated for self-defense education for females. My opinion is that this emphasis detracts from the issue of abuse rates among women and fails to adequately acknowledge the root of their campaign. In general, I do not believe viewers should change their view on bruising, it is an indication of damage to your body regardless of how it came about. While I am aware that this advertisement will likely not completely change perceptions of bruising, it seems insensitive to suggest as many victims of domestic violence become survivors after concerned individuals notice abnormal bruising.

With that being said, the Reebok ad was not a TOTAL failure, their video ignited emotion in me and I appreciate their attempt at rebranding victims as fighters. My main complaint is that the video has so many different opportunities for interpretation, some of which are negative. In comparison the Nike ad seems exponentially less risky. Their message was straight to the point and left little room for interpretation. Although I can recall more impactful campaigns by Nike, I think that is primarily due to the fact that I am not the target for this particular campaign.

The brands target audiences is another point of contrast regarding these campaigns. It seems that the Nike ad is targeted towards young athletes, those with time left to really become great at their craft. Alternatively, the Reebok ad seems to be targeted towards a broader audience of women. It is possible that their target was even more specific since there were such strong tones of women empowerment; I might infer that they specifically aimed their campaign towards woman feminists and activists.

Overall there are many aspect of each campaign that seemed successful. They both had an overarching positive message and imagery that provides engaging content. On the other hand, neither campaign was perfect. The Reebok ad's messaging read a little risky to me and the Nike ad, while inspirational in nature, failed to inspire any kind of action within me personally. In my opinion, neither of these campaigns are flawless and both could use improvement.