Nike: Just Moments Away From Controlling The Color Red
Remember when the color red used to signify passion? Perhaps war? Blood, if you’re into specifics? Well take some photos of all that and put ‘em in a scrapbook, because — yes, pictures of red things. No, I don’t know specifically what you should photograph. It was more of a pithy introduction to the blog than an actual suggestion. Besides, I’m the warning guy, not the idea guy. How you take pictures is your problem, but you should do it quickly because Nike is co-opting one of our most beloved colors. Any minute now, Nike’s going to change the way we think about red.
They’ve already started. You’ve already fallen victim. And it’s only going to get worse.
There aren’t too many corporations that have the power to change the public perception of an entire color and even fewer of those corporations that would have any desire to. With Nike, they’re working on a Pavlovian branding tactic. You see red, you think Nike. Not ketchup. Not Corvettes. Not Twizzlers. Not AIDS. Nike.
Serena Williams' U.S. Open 2008 Day Dress. Which, for our color blind readers, is red.
By now most people have identified Tiger Wood‘s “Sunday Red.” It used to be that if you saw Tiger wearing red (pictured above), it wasn’t long until he’d be winning something. Since Tiger has taken the last 15 months off (one way or the other) it’s become clear that Nike has started absorbing additional athletes into its crimson tide. Former tennis champ Maria Sharapova can be seen modeling any number of Nike sweatshirts (also pictured above), the most circulated of these ads featuring the Sharapova Supernova in a brilliant carmine hoodie. Then there’s Roger Federer‘s duds for the U.S. Open, which looked as if smaller, Swiss-y shirts were were made from Tiger’s used Sunday reds (I don’t mean to insult your intelligence by telling you that Federer, too, is pictured above, but I’ve got to make sure we’re covered). Roger Federer? Red. Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo? Red. Serena Williams? Last year’s U.S. Open dress was widely publicized … red. Dwyane Wade just jumped shipped from Converse (bought by Nike) to Nike’s Jumpman 23 campaign. So, in keeping with the stylistic theme I’m going with here: Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat? Red (sometimes). Dwyane Wade when he signs with the Bulls next season? Red. Oh, and that Jumpman 23 campaign? That’s Michael Jordan. Bulls again. That’s red. LeBron James? Wine colored. Which we can agree is in the red family, especially when everything else surrounding him is in black and white. And make no mistake, there will be some stars signed by Nike that simply won’t be able to fit red into their on-field color scheme (Lance Armstrong, Troy Polamalu, Derek Jeter, etc.), but then I’d like to direct you to every other commercial Nike has ever done: no color at all.
It’s not that Nike will control how red is used in everyday life, it’s that it’ll soon control how we think of red in everyday life. Soon ketchup will remind us all of Sharapova’s animalistic grunts (if it doesn’t already) and cherry Starbursts will make us recall how sweet it is to be Ronaldo (as should be the intended result of all candies).
You watch. Nike’s not zeroing in on red, it’s using red to zero in on us and all I’ve got is my double-knit, flat-backed mesh red workout shirt to use as a shield.
Photos courtesy of Flickr
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