Nike Commercial 2014: Risk Everything (Essay Sample)

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Risk Everything
Introduction
During the 2014 world cup, Nike the American sports apparel and Wieden Kennedy and American advertising company came up with one of the most intriguing commercials. The advert featured a well thought out message, which came out boldly; Risk Everything. The logo on the advert featured the bold statement, a skull with the Nike symbol on the forehead, a flaming dice and balls by the sides of the skull, as well the year of the world cup it represented. The advert carried a weighty mantra, which encourages all the players and the fans to risk everything that they have and engage in the game of football as it is supposed to be.
Thesis statement: Football cannon be played as a job as it is a form of enjoyment and there is nothing to loose in risking everything on the pitch for sheer enjoyment.
In the beginning moments elaborated by the advert, football is a form of enjoyment that does not have to be played in the pitch to be enjoyed. It does not require one to be the best player or on the best manicured lawns to have a pleasurable moment. It is more of the essence that can only be captured by the inner feelings that it elicits in the players and the fans alike. There are no measures or scales that can define football, as it is a free spirit. This is the message the advert passes in the first 30 seconds. Professional football players are seen tackling it out o the pitch, with high level of skills and fans cheering them on. This is merged with quality moments of young boys playing football on the streets of Rio.
In the next 50 seconds that follow, the basic aspects of football are challenged. The advert tries to bring in the fact that even the best players have a high chance of missing and the bottom line is that they risk too much on the pitch. At the same time the advert cleverly indicates that players are human and the can make mistakes which can result in more than 50% of failure. Christiano Ronaldo, is then brought up to indicate the fact that some of the players are quite rich and they take their riches to the match events. As a way of correcting the human nature of football, with reference to mistakes, risk taking and discipline, there is a proposal to clones that have enhanced abilities and reduced element of human players take on the game. Ideally, the clones do not take risks as the humans and are bound to bring in better results as they are not human. This compromises football and turns out that the clones are not as great and are killing the game and the spirit of the game.
With football compromised by the clones that are turning out to be least interesting to the fans, most of them turn to other sports such as basketball. There are no more children playing on the streets and life drags along as all the professional players are occupied doing other laborious chores to make money and get along. The advert is cleverly tuned at this point to create a moment of desperation. People no longer want to watch football as it is boring and the element of risk taking lacking. This makes the game boring to most of the people that loved before the clones that want to play safe came along. It turns out that it is not what the people wanted after all.
As the storyline in the advert develops, there is an underlying statement of taking risks. All the professional football players, such as Ronaldo, Neymar Jr., Rooney, Zlatan, Andrés Iniesta, Ribery , Howard and David Luiz come together. The bottom line about the coming together of these professional players is to bring back the element risk in playing football. Ideally, the game is not entertaining because the players can master moves that seem supernatural; it is the element o...