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I’m fairly sure this is the closest thing we’ll ever get to porno in an American TV commercial. I wasn’t familiar with Marvin Gaye’s 1983 national anthem, but Nike has included it in this new team USA promo spot, complete with catcalls from females.
Earlier this month, I posted a funny Nike commercial titled 1-800-Dunk’d-On which was about a guy getting embarrassed on the basketball court and ridiculed by his friends as a result.
Dunking in your opponents face, blocking their shots, and “breaking” their ankles have always been one of the most entertaining parts of basketball. It’s all about competition and never meant to be disrespectful, once the game is over you give your opponent a dap (not a “fist bump”) and then you keep it movin.
Well, several sensitive individuals and/or members of the homosexual community have spoken out against the advertisements, claiming they imply that having another man’s genitals in your face is bad.
Can you believe how ridiculous this sounds?
Not wanting to piss anyone off, Nike has pulled the ad campaign and apologized for any misunderstandings.
Like I stated earlier, the ads were strictly confined to the act of getting dunked on, but even if they WERE implying a man’s genitals in your face was bad… it STILL wouldn’t be homophobic. I say this because, anytime ANYONE puts their privates in your face without asking… you’re going to react negatively. I’m 100% hetero, and I would frown if Lisa Leslie dunked on me and I had her sweaty catchers mitt all on my forehead. This isn’t a gender specific thing folks.
It may not be as memorable as the Kobe ‘Aston Martin’ one, but this one was definitely funnier. It’s shot in a “MTV’s Real World” testimonial style.
I still wouldn’t buy these shoes, but it DID serve as a few minutes of entertainment.
In the last month or so there’s been a lot of “mainstream media vs. bloggers” talk in the sports world. Much has been made of if bloggers pose a legitimate threat to newspapers and magazines etc. Much has also been made of the “offensive, irresponsible, juvenile, and incorrect” content found on sports blogs.
Unlike most people, I really don’t think theres much of a difference between mainstream media and blogging aside from foul language. The only reason theres no cursing on ESPN is because they have advertisers to appease and they simply can’t get away with it. You can bet your ass that if I had a six or seven figure contract with Coors or Nike you wouldn’t see the word “shit” here again. But since I don’t…fuck it.
I’ve been paying close attention to ESPN in the last two months and I SWEAR to you, a great deal of their content looks and sounds like material straight off of a blog. Sure, they clean it up and polish it for their zillion viewers, but the heart of the content is no different than ours in most cases.
About two weeks ago, Sports Center led their broadcast with a teaser of Ozzie Guillens “foul mouthed rant”. They hung the hat of the entire broadcast on the fact that viewers wanted to hear Ozzie cursing…..sounds like a blog to me. Let’s not even get started on the “top 5″ lists that are ran several times within an hour show.
That brings us to today…. and a three minute discussion on whether or not an NFL kick returner can escape a bear on the field. The “Worldwide Leader In Sports” reduced themselves to discussing strategies with Antwaan Randle El on how to juke a grizzly bear on the 50 yard line. I won’t lie… it was entertaining… but it was also something you could probably read on With Leather or Kissing Suzy Kolber.
*edit* As I type this… ESPN’s Trey Wingo is discussing pictures of Tony Romo partying from TMZ.com on NFL Live.
[Shout out to Awful Announcing for the vid]
