Nike Kills Controversial Billboards, but Online Video Ads With the Same Sentiment Remain

You may have heard a little bit recently about some controversial billboard ads that were being run by Nike, and were created by ad agency Wieden+Kennedy. Basically, the ads featured a closeup of someone getting dunked on -- with the emphasis of the photo being the dunker's groin mashed into the dunkee's face -- along with some captions that were meant to be amusing, but were instead found by many to be offensive.

A few of the ads can be seen here, although the two with the most controversial tag lines that read "That Ain't Right" (above) and "Punks Jump Up" have been taken offline. (The reason that the former tag line might be offensive to some is fairly self explanatory, and the offending nature of the latter is explained perfectly by Henry at TrueHoop.) Following the controversy, Nike has decided to drop the whole campaign, and the official non-apology-apology went something like this:

On Friday, Nike, of Beaverton, Ore., said in a statement that it "has a long history of supporting athletes regardless of their sexual orientation" and would drop the ad, which "is based purely upon a common insight from within the game of basketball -- the athletic feat of dunking on the opposition, and is not intended to be offensive."

Translation: We're sorry if you were offended. Whatever, at least Nike learned their lesson and they're done with the "junk in the face" line of advertising, right? Well, not exactly. Take a look at their latest ad involving the Hyperdunk Recovery Center after the jump, which sure seems to share the same sentiment as the billboard ads that the shoe giant recently killed.



Personally, I'm not offended by any of these ads. But I can definitely see how someone might be. And I'm pretty sure that if you're in the camp that was offended by the billboard ads, then you're likely to be about 10 times more offended by this one, which is running online all over the place, and may even be on television.

The fact that Nike pulled the billboard campaign, but continues to run the (arguably worse) video ads, shows a complete lack of remorse or sympathy to the people that were offended in the first place. And it also shows that, where this issue is concerned, the company simply doesn't get it.