Nike Ad Honours Athlete and Feminist

According to an ad campaign by the sportswear giant Nike, Serena Wiliams is the greatest female athlete in recorded history. Although the praise certainly flattered the athlete, she was not going

stand for the understated sexism that pervades the portrayal of female athletes in the media.

Gender is Irrelevant to Being a Great Athlete

When a reporter asked Williams how she felt about being named as, ‘the greatest female athlete of all time’, she responded that she would prefer to simply be named as, ‘one of the greatest athletes of all time’. The tennis star was clearly not happy with her gender being drawn into the tribute. The simple statement made by Williams had a tremendous impact on the media, and on Nike.

Striking out Sexism

Two months later Nike used the moment in which the athlete stood up to subtle sexism in a 60-second spot which was aired close to the US Open being launched. By using simple words and short on-screen sentences, the many achievements and struggles by Williams are artistically displayed in an easy to understand narrative. In the ad, Williams is yet again hailed as, ‘the greatest female athlete ever’ but this time Nike went so far as to remove the word female from the on-screen copy used for the ad. When it comes to the sentence that reads, ‘greatest female athlete ever’, the screen pauses and the sentence is replaced with, ‘greatest _______ athlete ever’ – making a moving point.

Stuff Legends are Made of

The words featured in the 60-second spot were selected as follows:

• Compton – Where Williams first picked up a tennis racket; she was only three years old.
• Sister, Outsider – Williams and her sister both proved that developed talent overrules prejudices.
• Pro – Aged 14 in 1995, Williams turned pro.
• #304 – Her ranking in 1997 after she triumphed over two top 10 contenders; she was the lowest-ranked tennis player to achieve this in recorded history.
• Winner – Williams achieved her first grand slam and claimed fourth spot in 1999.
• Top 10 – For two years she was ranked as one of the top 10 players.
• Paris, London, New York – Williams achieved victories in Paris, London and New York, and achieved No. 1 ranking in 2002.
• Melbourne – Williams earned the nickname ‘Serena Slam’ after her success in Melbourne in 2003.
• Injured – After she sustained an injury Williams’ career was temporarily derailed. In 2006 she fell to No. 139, struggled with her self-esteem and was widely labelled as obsolete.
• Struggling – In 2007 she competed as an un-seeded player in Melbourne and won.
• No. 169 – Williams’ ranking further dropped after sustaining yet another injury. Although she fell to No. 169, Williams quickly started rising again.
• Done, comeback, focused – Williams made a full comeback and in 2013 she became the oldest tennis player to rank in first place.
• No. 1 – In 2014 Williams achieved her sixth title in New York and held top spot right through the year, which made her the second female to keep the place for an entire year.
  Legend – Today Williams is celebrated as the best, and not only revered for her achievements in tennis.