Anna Poechhacker
Student
Student
Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most
common names related to the civil rights movement and included in pretty much
every United States history class´s curriculum. So you have probably heard his
name before but if you haven´t or you don´t remember, let me freshen up your
memory. Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and leader in
the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 60s. He is best
known for his peaceful marches, protests, his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,”
and most popular for his “I Have a Dream” speech, which he gave at the
Washington Mall in 1963. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, Martin Luther King Jr.,
often referred to as MLK, has accomplished many great goals in terms of civil
rights and is still remembered for that; he even got his own holiday and a
memorial to honour him (which, by the way is pretty cool and definitely worth
seeing in case you need ideas for a nice daytime activity).
For a person that popular, it is not surprising that his name still shows up in various commercials and is very marketable. The problem with that though is, that most of the time, his words lose their original purpose and are used for the wrong reasons: namely merchandise only! A perfect example for this is an ad that was done by the popular brand NIKE. In that particular commercial they show a young guy running through the streets of a big city, Tokyo according to the comments on YouTube. While he is running, the viewer can hear King´s “I Have a Dream” speech, and since the man in the video is wearing earplugs, we can assume that he is listening to MLK´s speech. After about a minute and a half of watching this guy warm up and run through the city, the words “free spirit” appear on the screen.
With this commercial, NIKE seems to try to make a connection between their running shoes and MLK´s speech, in which he talks about his dream of a “free” America, a country in which every person is free to choose who they want to be and most importantly, a country in which everyone is equal!! The goal of every commercial is to bring the product closer to the consumer and make people buy the product. In this case, the viewer’s sense of freedom, liberty, and also willpower as well as power to succeed are the main focus. The goal of this NIKE commercial is to make the viewer feel like he can achieve all of that with wearing NIKE running shoes. So the commercial is basically telling you: “Run in NIKE shoes and you will feel empowered, free, and will reach your goals.”
Again, this is not the original purpose of MLK´s speech and definitely not the message he wanted to send. Using him and his speech in commercials like the NIKE ad, changes our view on MLK, his speech, and his whole discourse. It makes us forget, what we should really remember him for: his impressive fight against racism and for civil rights. If you get a day off school or work in honour of a person, don´t know want to remember the real purpose and reasons for that national holiday? It´s not only the holiday though, the fight for civil rights is not over yet, so don´t we want to remember how it all started, who the persons were that gave their lives for it and changed the world so it would be a better place for you and me?!
For a person that popular, it is not surprising that his name still shows up in various commercials and is very marketable. The problem with that though is, that most of the time, his words lose their original purpose and are used for the wrong reasons: namely merchandise only! A perfect example for this is an ad that was done by the popular brand NIKE. In that particular commercial they show a young guy running through the streets of a big city, Tokyo according to the comments on YouTube. While he is running, the viewer can hear King´s “I Have a Dream” speech, and since the man in the video is wearing earplugs, we can assume that he is listening to MLK´s speech. After about a minute and a half of watching this guy warm up and run through the city, the words “free spirit” appear on the screen.
With this commercial, NIKE seems to try to make a connection between their running shoes and MLK´s speech, in which he talks about his dream of a “free” America, a country in which every person is free to choose who they want to be and most importantly, a country in which everyone is equal!! The goal of every commercial is to bring the product closer to the consumer and make people buy the product. In this case, the viewer’s sense of freedom, liberty, and also willpower as well as power to succeed are the main focus. The goal of this NIKE commercial is to make the viewer feel like he can achieve all of that with wearing NIKE running shoes. So the commercial is basically telling you: “Run in NIKE shoes and you will feel empowered, free, and will reach your goals.”
Again, this is not the original purpose of MLK´s speech and definitely not the message he wanted to send. Using him and his speech in commercials like the NIKE ad, changes our view on MLK, his speech, and his whole discourse. It makes us forget, what we should really remember him for: his impressive fight against racism and for civil rights. If you get a day off school or work in honour of a person, don´t know want to remember the real purpose and reasons for that national holiday? It´s not only the holiday though, the fight for civil rights is not over yet, so don´t we want to remember how it all started, who the persons were that gave their lives for it and changed the world so it would be a better place for you and me?!
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