Controversial Advertising with a Special Focus on Nike's Ad 'Dream Crazy' (PDF)

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2020 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,7, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen (Anglistik), language: English, abstract: When American football player Colin Kaepernick protested for black rights in mid-2016, I was astonished at the extent of the controversy that followed. Actually, I think sports should be neutral and apolitical. However, top athletes - who often have a great deal of influence in society - can stimulate political discourse and even trigger larger debates, as Kaepernick did. Consequently, I wanted to investigate why Kaepernick and Nike were attacked in the ensuing controversy and why a debate was triggered between different political factions in the US.

In the first chapter, I introduce media analysis. I examine how advertisements persuade their audience and how different media techniques and multimodality work together to capture the viewer's attention more effectively. Special emphasis is given to how metaphors are created and how they function, how a utopian world perspective is communicated through commercials and how producers make use of unique selling points to cleverly place their products on the market. I reference the texts covered in class but also contribute my own thoughts and experiences to reflect on the contents on a more personal level.

In the second chapter, I discuss Nike and its famous 'Dream Crazy' commercial from 2018. I begin by answering the question of why Nike, as a global corporation, is particularly important when it comes to analysing advertisements. Subsequently, I provide background on the commercial, share my thoughts upon first viewing it and analyse its media production. Once more, I consider metaphors, utopia, multimodality and unique selling points. Finally, I summarise the findings and draw a conclusion.