In this op-ed, Angie Jaime looks at two new Nike ads and how they uplift inclusion.
Sha’Carri Richardson is slamming battle ropes on the floor. Her face is a steely mask, glaring forward, slamming harder each time as muscles ripple. Slow motion warped sounds of wooshing are the only audio. But these are not battle ropes, a closer look reveals that the ropes continue past her arms, over her shoulders and onto her neck. The ropes are braids, woven in astronomically long tendrils, in and amongst her own. The Instagram video is a Nike spot featuring Sha’Carri, in promotion of a recent Nike x Jaquemus collection, lensed by Bronx native, Dominican-American photographer and director Renell Medrano.
Another, longer video shows the hectic scene behind the scenes, Sha’Carri in a director’s chair surrounded by braiders working and weaving as she speaks. “I feel free, I feel like a bird that just got released out of a cage, and I can just find my full potential and tap into a love for myself that I didn’t even know existed,” she says in her soft Texan drawl. We see close-ups of details of the shoot, here a handbag, there a sneaker set, next a detailed shot of the Nike swoosh symbol emblazoned on her signature talon nails.
It’s just one of a number of recent Nike ads that both subvert the fitness model archetype while giving platform to women with challenging stories to tell. The Nike campaign serves as a mile marker, a moment of triumph over adversity, a moment of both finally having arrived, yet continuing to run headlong on to the next metaphorical hurdle — and many on social media are praising the ads as such. It is, in essence, a truer definition of “fitness” than we have seen from many brands: A goal that looks different for everyone, and one that never truly arrives but is still worth the pursuit.
“Ahem, I know you’re not about to quit now! Let’s go!” That’s Megan the Stallion’s voice interrupting what at first appears to be a pretty standard Nike ad for her new collaboration with the brand, where she and an “every girl” are seen practicing along with at-home workout videos that have now become norm in the COVID era. But Megan, AKA Thee Hot Girl Coach, is not having it, breaking the fourth wall, inserting herself in the mix and literally into the girl’s living room. From here and on through the rest of the ad spot’s 60 seconds, it’s clear that Meg is on our side, whether it’s making balanced food choices (“It’s giving both!”) or calling forth a meditation guide to help soothe social media anxieties. It’s all part of the Hottie State of Mind, a philosophy she defines in the video as loving on yourself, focusing on wellness and quieting the haters.
Beyond sharing a deeply encouraging word to hot chip and green juice enjoyers everywhere, the ad’s casting is also a welcome breath of fresh air, featuring people with bodies of all sizes and skin tone while expanding the definition of what fitness can mean. Still, while both Megan and Sha’Carri are statuesque and fit in ways that many may never hope (or even want!) to achieve, their positioning in these videos present an embrace of the very things which make us vulnerable to critique on the path to attaining our goals. It’s an idea so simple yet so rare to find in contemporary fitness brands of this global scale, that the “perfection” in fitness is actually unattainable, yet still worth the chase.
