Nike and the Two-Step Flow

Adrian Peterson Nike Advertisement

Cristiano Ronaldo Nike Advertisement

Nike.

It's a name everyone, all over the world, knows. I've met little boys in the African bush who ask for a Nike replica jerseys for their national fútbol team: Zambia's Chipolopolo. I've also met people here in America who have been outraged by Nike, particularly regarding their sweatshop practices. Whether you're a fan or a foe, Nike is a global brand. 

Since its founding in 1964, and since its huge boom in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Nike has been inspiring us to be 'like Mike'. There are even rumors of a 'jinx' that follows those featured in Nike's ads. This article explains that there may be some credibility to that notion. 

So what about the ads holds our attention?

Nike's ad campaigns, while there is some innovation and divergence, has been centered around the same format since the late 1980s. This is in part due to the fact that Nike reverently respects its own past, as this article explains. Its ads use similar layouts, fonts, and color schemes, even across national borders. The only piece of the ad that varies is the subject - the sports icon that represents and rallies his or her respective country. Adrian Peterson, an American football player, and Cristiano Ronaldo, a Spanish fútbol player, are featured in ads that are almost identical to each other, as shown above.  

Nike understands that its the heroes themselves who will draw the consumer's eyes. These patriots cause consumers to well up with nationalistic pride, evoking a following from amongst the masses. 

In the study of mass communications, we can understand more deeply these and other effects that Nike advertises have on us as consumers:

• Media Effects 
• Two-step Flow: Minimalist scholars (those who believe the media affect us indirectly) claim that voters are more motivated by people they recognize than by mass media. This explains Nike's emphasis on the icon. The athlete is the determining factor in most of their ads. Yes, we know the swoosh and the font. We expect those. But the parts of Nike ads that still amaze us - that still draw us in - are the portrayals of our sports gods as being just that: gods. 
• Status Conferral: Media attention enhances attention given to people, subjects and issues. This explains athlete participation in these advertisements. Athletes want to be sponsored and advertised by Nike because, as this theory explains, mass media acknowledgement is highly effective at bringing recognizability, a key factor in the business of being famous. 

No matter where the fans are in the world, Nike meets those fans by honoring their respective icons. Nike's mission statement is "To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world." Its goal is to cover the globe. It inspires the world by turning a footballer, or fútboler, into Hercules in an advertisement. We are awed. 

Here are my sources, again: 

Cristiano Ronaldo Nike Advertisement

Chipolopolo

This article about the Nike jinx

Adrian Peterson

Cristiano Ronaldo

Nike's mission statement

Economics of Olympic Advertising

The Olympics, while a global event, are advertised differently in different countries. When examining this advertising, it is important to remember what parties benefit the most from advertising the Olympic games. With the Olympics being one of the most-watched televised events of the year, broadcasting stations are the first to come to mind in terms of benefitting from advertising. In the United States, NBC entered into a $4.38 billion contract for broadcasting rights, but in Russia, host country of next year's Winter Games, a triumvirate of government-owned television stations hold these rights. The differences between these entities can clearly be seen in their advertising efforts for the upcoming event.

The above image is one most commonly used in Russian advertising for the Sochi Olympic Games. It features the official logo of the games, and is also used by the networks that will be broadcasting the games. However, this image has no outside advertising material on it whatsoever and reflects only the official graphics designed to promote Russia's image in the games. 

This image, while similar visually to the Russian logo, is an example of NBC's marketing approach to the 2014 Olympic Games. Because NBC not a government entity, they are concerned with the profitability of their broadcast as a return on their immense initial investment. 

Primarily, the difference in advertising and marketing between these organizations stems from economics. As explained here, NBC's race to ensure that advertising during the broadcasts of the Olympics is indicative of a dire need to ensure profitability of their contract. The Russian broadcasting stations, on the other hand, have no such incentive. Because they are government-owned, there is no need to guarantee separate funding for these news stations, thus no need to include a logo or broadcasting information in the image for the games. Money from Olympic sponsors will still ultimately be used by the government to promote Russia's image in this event.

In order for NBC's investment to be a success, not only do they have to gain the backing of many advertisers, but they also need to guarantee those advertisers a large viewing audience. Because the initial contract ensured NBC primary coverage for the next 4 Olympic Games, the audience during Sochi will determine whether or not advertisers decide to continue their support of NBC's coverage. Russian broadcasting companies have no such concerns. The main three stations did not make any investments to broadcast the games, and their advertising will not be determined by the viewers of the games. On the contrary, it is the Russian government that has invested the most in both hosting and broadcasting the Olympic games, thus their marketing materials seek to reflect the Olympic spirit of the games while promoting Russia's image worldwide.

A Larger Than Life Experience: Sports in America and Europe

Over the past couple of decades, sports have increased dramatically in popularity and have become an astoundingly strong revenue source for media conglomerates. Specifically, in the United States, ESPN (owned by Disney) has capitalized on the popularity of football. By gaining the rights to most college football games, they are earning themselves millions of dollars per contest. Comparatively, media stations in Great Britain have done the same with the sport of soccer. Much of this success comes from heavy and strategic advertising, often depicting the games as more than just sporting events.


Yet, as popular as both sports are in their respective nations, demassification has occurred. Instead of focusing on sports enthusiasts as a whole, the media has chosen to target a somewhat niche audience that can understand and gravitate to the importance of the sporting event. In Hegemonic Masculinity and Globalization:‘Transnational Business Masculinities’ and Beyond, Juanita Elias and Christine Beasley examine the impact of globalization from transnational businesses on men and women around the world. They note that businesses, including the media, have demassified, focusing on hegemonic masculine audiences.This seems to be congruent with the tactics employed by ESPN when advertising their college football games.

In this case, ESPN has demassified, utilizing “College GameDay” to target a niche football audience. The commercial glorifies the event in a gladiator type manner. It conveys the sense that only the strong, who are mentally and physically prepared to begin the season along with the two football teams, should watch the event.

The demassification is also vivid in this commercial for the Barclays Premier League. 

The league encompasses teams throughout Great Britain, and the advertisement targets the niche audience of those who follow one of those select teams. Specifically, the advertisement is thanking it’s already acquired fans, and although the commercial seems to focus on those who attend the game, it is assumed that they are communicating to all of their customers (television viewers, merchandise consumers, etc.).

Although both advertisements are for entertainment purposes, they also convey persuasion. Both are persuading the viewer to take part in something bigger than them by making a life decision to “become part of the team and the experience.”


For More, Go To The Following Sources
Demassification
Hegemony and Masculinity
NY Times ESPN College Football Revenue

Hollywood "Charisma Men" in Japanese Commericals

The appearance of male Hollywood stars in Japanese commercials involves more than famous buzz words such as American cultural imperialism and globalization. It is instead more closely an effect of:

1. A negative stigma within the United States that looks down on Hollywood actors who take jobs for TV advertising. (i.e. Hollywood/film is high-brow and should not mix with low-brow televisual content.)
2. A romanticized exoticism associated with the Western man.

In Japan, unlike the United States, celebrity appearances in commercials work to promote fame rather than stain it. Japanese companies put forth an agenda of associating stars with brands in order to sell products based on celebrity fandoms. This is true to an extent in the United States, as some stars will do big budget commercials for events such as the Super Bowl, but no one sees a blockbuster star starring in an ordinary coffee commercial among the majority of the American media landscape. However, one can certainly see it in Japan as Tommy Lee Jones has become grounded as the symbol of Boss coffee.

 

Therefore, why are Hollywood actors, such as Tommy Lee Jones, George Clooney, and Harrison Ford, taking face-time in Japanese commercials despite the negative stigma?

The answer is money – the bottom line. They can make a lot of money because the stigma is not in Japan. Even Dennis Hopper commented to Entertainment Weekly, “I couldn’t believe the money they were paying me. If I could do one of these every year, I could retire.” They also do it because the likelihood of the commercials becoming vastly visible in the U.S. is small. After all, media tend to go out of America, not in it.

Furthermore, the big money given to these male superstars is mostly for their exoticism as “Charisma Men.” “Charisma Man” is a stereotype in Japan that assumes Western men are more charming, doting, and easygoing than Japanese men, and it is both originated and perpetuated by the frequent Hollywood male presence within Japanese channels. The result is that Japanese women get to utilize media to fawn over actors like George Clooney, while Japanese men are left with a cultivated ideal that they may see as either competition or normative.

Sources:

• De Zoysa, Richard, and Otto Newman. "Globalization, soft power and the challenge of Hollywood." Contemporary Politics 8.3 (2002): 185-202. Print.
• "Hollywood's Secret Japanese Commercials Are no Longer Secret" - by Brian Ashcraft
• "Leonardo DiCaprio and the easy money of foreign commercials" - by Jeff Labrecque 
• "The return of Charisma Man" - by Lisa Gay

Coca-Col-ization: How Coca-Cola Advertising Embodies Glocalization

Yes, you read it right.

Glocalization is a more precise term for the its well-known counterpart, globalization. Before discussing its use in Coca-Cola's advertising, there's a distinction to understand:

  
   

• GloBALization:
• Connection of many cultures that forces homogenization of all cultures.
• Culture 2 transforms to mimic Culture 1.

• GloCALization:
• Products and ideas intended for a global market, but customized to suit local cultures. 
• Culture 2 is affected by Culture 1, but retains some original qualities.

A perfect example of a company harnessing glocalization to advertise to a huge, diverse audience is The Coca-Cola Company.

Check out this Coca-Cola advertisement from their Happiness Without Borders campaign:

Coca-Cola Small World Machines - Bringing India and Pakistan Together 

by The Coca-Cola Company

The video exemplifies both specific trends of effective mass communication and the social process glocalization.

Mass Communication Trends & Effects:                                                               

• Political controversy
• Audiences like conflict. It’s interesting.
• Here, the ad portrays Coca-Cola as a global product that may solve tension between India and Pakistan. 

• Agenda-setting
• The media’s ability to influence what publics think about
• In this case, shedding light on the conflict.

• CNN Effect
• The ability, through emotional video, to elevate distant issues on the domestic public agenda
• Because of the footage in the ad, viewers worldwide feel sympathetic and action-minded toward the situation.

Glocalization:

• By placing the "Small World Machine" in a rural environment, the technology is exciting and novel. So, Coke extends that global image in a local setting. 

• The theme of the video also corresponds with Coca-Cola's ad campaign: "Open Happiness."

Final five seconds of "Coca-Cola Small World Machines"

While Coca-Cola narrowed the content to fit local groups, their "happy" brand remains potent. From individuals drinking Cokes and laughing to the final slogan, neither the American brand nor the locals completely conformed to the other's culture. 

Instead, Coca-Cola combined the local culture with its global trademark and created a perfect example of glocalization in mass communication. 

Check out the full sources for more info.

• Sources used in this article:
• "Defining Glocalization" by The Global Policy Forum
• "Global Modernities" (Chapter 2: Glocalization: Time-Space and Homogeneity-Heterogenity) by Roland Robertson
• "Glocalization as Globalization: Evolution of a Sociological Concept" by Habibul Khondker
• "Happiness without Borders" by Jay Moye
• "The Media of Mass Communication" by John Vivian
• "Transnationalism, Cosmopolitanism and Glocalization" by Victor Roudometof