OK, I should never watch things like that. I actually teared up! wow... I just don't cry or anything usually! that was good!

It is very touching indeed. I teach in a college. It's a long way for me have this life I am living right now. I am in my late 30s now. I often wonder what my life would be like if I choose what my heart desire instead of what is right or good for me(by general standard). "Just Do It", I kind of wish I have done that.

How many titles did they witness the celtics, bruins, and patriots win?????? Do you want to know pain? Try being a Cleveland sports fan!!!

Thanks for sharing that. You are right it is a beautiful commercial and worth the watch and the tears. I'm such a sap.

Thank you Mike!

The Browns alone top any pain another franchise has gone through!

You wrote, "I usually don't care for commercials. Companies use them to manipulate viewers and to create artificial desires." Objection! If companies can manipulate other people, they can manipulate you, too. How do you know that your desire for Prada, Seven jeans, and Jimmy Choos wasn't artificially implanted by advertising? I assume that you attribute your fondness for these things to your own free will. To be fair, you should acknowledge the free will of other consumers, rather than condescendingly treat them as victims of propaganda.

Did you ever read my blog post in response to your first email to me? If not, please do so now. It deals further with this issue of consumerism and ant-consumerism. It's titled "Fan mail from a lady of the evening" and it's at anti-puritan.blogspot.com.

Anti-Puritan, I never said that I wasn't influenced by advertising. Nor did I say that I possess any more free will than anyone else.

In fact, I fully admit to being a slave to fashion who is overly influenced by the ads in the pages of Vogue, on TV or in the windows of all the pretty shops on 5th Ave. Clever and sexy ads stoke the flames of my materialistic desires.

I simply said that I don't care for ads. Sort of like a heroin addict who knows that shooting up is bad yet can't resist...

Finally, I did try to post a comment but you have to sign up for a membership first. I don't like to sign up just to post comments.

the red sox deserved to win the series. i can't deny that. they played better. i still hate them though, and i'll be rooting for either the astros or cardinals, whoever happens to win game 7 tonight.

however, that commercial was nicely done.

Alexa, I hope you don't mind if I keep this debate going. I think it's important. I have a hunch that the Adbusters crowd may become politically powerful some day. Then they could restrict our freedoms, as the religious right and p.c. left do now.

I'm glad you mentioned heroin in your comment. Contrary to popular belief, heroin does not have supernatural power over the wills of the people who use it. Exaggerated fears of heroin addiction, and addiction in general, perpetuate the senseless war on drugs. It's a perfect example of denial of free will leading to erosion of liberty. You can learn the truth about heroin by copying and pasting this URL:
http://reason.com/0306/fe.js.h.shtml

I have read your comment on my blog. And yes, I AM happy. ;-)

My instincts Alexa are that you have a Cyber Stalker.. "ie" (The Anti-Puritan)

But im happy to be proven wrong?

Love N Luck...

Yeah, that had me tear up too, dammit I've become such a softy.

Michael,
Who wouldn't want to stalk sweet, sweet Alexa?

Actually, my main reason for posting these comments is to promote my blog. I have almost no readership at all. It's no help that Google still hasn't gotten around to indexing it.

Dear ANTI, i would be happy to visit your page...I think you will find you get more Bee's with Honey...Try and be a little more gentle with your words they come across a little attacking!

Yes i agree with this? Sweet sweet Alexa, and she's pretty freaking smart to...

:)me hitting on her<

Did you say heroin?
From Nike (promoting overcoming
adversity? and how and where: in
a sweatshop?) to peoples addiction
to Vogue
advertisements, oh no, I am sorry: heroin.

Hard to imagine suffering from
a lack of constant visual stimulation
from Versace models with the "gaunt
depraved look with bags under their eyes" wearing expensive designer clothing as
being on par with the serious gnawing
hell of heroin addiction.

And now on to Adbusters diabolically
ruling the world. What fluff and leaps
in logic!

Create artificial desires? Dont get me started!

Eh, hey, er, aye used to 'work'
in advertizing and am just having
a bad night.

Will take a look at the Nike
commercial later.

Ciao!

PS My own creed? Don't just do it.
Think about it first. Later.

PSS 150 dollar pair of shoes that
cost 20 bucks to make! Why should
I pay for latest sports star celebritys'
advertising contract? Huh? He makes
enough money 'playing hard' at work.
So thats what you pay for: the cost of the advertising. Not the product itself.
Nothings free! Not freedom, not a show
that you watch nor a magazine article
you read. Nothing. Adbusters is all about exposing the reality behind the illusions created by ads and then dissecting them.
Nothing more and nothing less. If you like, think about it this way. Taking a break
from the 'real' world of advertising which
sell products that we use in the really
real world is what we have Adbusters to
thank for. They are not an imposition on
anybody and actually if you think about it,
you will find that advertising is actually
an imposition on EVERYBODY.

All we have left to ponder after that fact is our own ambivalence to it or our indifference.
Which ever is left standing after the hard fought lost or won fight from 9-5 to TGIF.

Cheers!

PS Why do you think pop up blockers were invented along with spam blockers? To cure the addicts of course. Right!

anti-puritan, while we may agree on some points, you're not going to be able to convince me that drug addiction isn't real. nice try, though. :)

i'm not totally sure what the adbusters are. but from what you wrote, are they for censoring ads? if so, then call me the anti-adbuster.

we americans are too prudish as it is. i'm all for including nudity on tv. better to show sex than to show violence i say!

Um, maybe people should come to the cured heroin addict's blog and live in my shoes for maybe one day, I promise it is not that depressing. :)

Heroin addiction is a multi pronged attack on your morals, health and self esteem. Everyone has the power to say no, some people are taught as children that drugs are bad or wrong, some children are taught consequences of our actions.
Some, are not. That was me.

So we blunder, without the benefit of the "height" that the judges seem to think they have, to see the error of our ways and the stupidity of our addiction. It seems so easy to interpret - becuase you can.
I was at university. I was 18.
I was trying to start my life over.
I met a boy ( as we do) Who had different ideas.
But, I digress as I am responsible for my own actions, that is why I got better and that is why I am healed, because somebody stopped judging and someone starting showing me and explaining how to understand consequence.
Not everything is fact.
Somethings, like our failures are purely emotional.

Come visit heroinegirl, and see for yourself
http://heroinegirl.blogspot.com/

Boy, Nike isn't even trying to get us to buy the shoes any more. What are sweat shop kids doing these days? Editing commercials?

NIce ad. I'm a sucker for sentimentality too (wiping my eyes). Funny that Nike's most emotionally effective ad in ages didn't feature any of their expensive celebrity endorsers. Simple and honest is usually the best way (unless you're talkin' political ads).

I work at an ad agency in a non-creative role (so they tell me...) but I still cast a jaundiced eye at our North American consumer culture. That doesn't mean I have a moral opposition to enjoying a beautiful girl in her "Prada, Seven jeans, and Jimmy Choos"! Keep it up, girl.

Michael:
I see your point about flies and honey. I will do my best to soften my tone, but it may not be easy. I'm passionate about this issue, so I get cranky.

Alexa:
Have you read the article at this URL?
http://reason.com/0306/fe.js.h.shtml
If my assertions about heroin seem to defy common sense, it's good to remember that common sense says the sun revolves around the earth.

HeroineGirl:
I don't mean to deny or trivialize the pain that your heroin addiction has caused you. But I humbly ask you to consider the possibility that much of your pain was a consequence of the PROHIBITION of heroin, which increases the expense, the health risks, and (maybe worst of all) the shame of the habit. This prohibition came from the urge to condemn and control the lives of others. My point is that history may repeat itself with the new batch of lifestyle choices we're all supposed to hate, like tobacco, fast food, and television.

JJ:
You may not like the fact that some people choose to pay so much for a pair of sneakers. But it's their money, not yours. If you don't want to help pay for a celebrity athlete's endorsement contract, that's fine. Shoe companies don't force anyone to hand over their money against their will; that's what the government does. We don't need Adbusters laying a guilt trip over people's spending choices any more than we need Jerry Falwell laying a guilt trip over people's sexual choices. Material goods have symbolic as well as utilitarian value, and that's all right.

HeroineGirl:
It just occurred to me that I may have misinterpreted your comment somehow. If so, I apologize.

heh. that was cute.

Hey there,

I watched the ad and it didn't do anything for me, maybe I'm just emotionally cut off or maybe I just thought the add was kinda odd....who knows?

Is it possible that you just like to suck thus becoming a sucker?

Good points raised by the Anti-Puritan , that would seem cogent if my father was not an alcoholic, or that many of friends have died from the side effects of years of heroin abuse, and I do not mean incarceration, I mean they have chronic hep - c , they kill themselves from the agony, or basically they are so doped up, they overdose, run out in front of a car - just some instances that I know.

I do see the merit in prohibition.
I do believe that people should have a choice.
But I don't know about you, would you put a syringe in your arm , three times a day, until your viens collapse and sores form?
Cos people that do this - do it anyway.
Legal or not. I cannot even fully read that article as it makes me so mad !
Let's see how he is going in five years.
Heroin is not designed to be a coping mechanism.
I hope his condo burns down while he is on the nod, (ok, I am angry) .

Although I want to know more from Anti Puritan, I like to be informed. Consider this a mere discussion.
I love to debate things, and I don't want to seem all super hoity-toity ( don't worry I am not) I , like you, just want to understand "the real deal".

Laws and prohibition played a minor role in my addiction. Most of the time, your indoors napping as your life slips on by. I could only think that if heroin was legislated, it would mean more napping.
I mean why push yourself, if your stoned?

Although, it made it harder - I needed all the help I could get to quit and to realise consequence. We would all like to be doped up - wouldn't we? WE would all like to be numb sometimes, to the pains of life. Unfortunately, society is constructed in a way that everyone's minds do need to be on the job. Maybe that is where the pressure valve needs to be directed,as opposed to yet another legalised drug we can destroy ourselves with.

We do need to care about each other and the effects our actions have on not only ourselves, but those we love. Heroin is a serotonin substitute, it replaces your ability to smile, to love , to feel. It is a dangerous place to be.

Sadly, the grasp heroin has on your life is all encompassing, I still think we would find people shooting up in public toilets, just more of them, I still think we would find parents injecting thier children with heroin ( as young as six) to get them to go to "sleep". Not all prostitutes use heroin, so I don't see a decline there - maybe only a few other options.

A heroin user only cares about heroin, which in turn makes you extremely self-orientated, profiecent. It would cut down crime. Mind you, I never once stole anything or broke the law ( pertaining to fuffilling a fully fledged habit)
Plus, please keep in mind that I did partake in the methodone program, and that will be covered extensively in further posts as we arrive to it.
I still found people "shooting" it up, trying to sell it for food money, or resigned to be on it for thier whole lifes.

I think that it is hard for me to generalise , cos I do think I am different to the "cliche" junkie that is depicted in movies, I know this reads as ironic as my blog is, surreal at times and people have commented it is like a really vivid movie plot. But I only capture the truth, and I saw a lot of different kinds of heroin addicts, all of them - not that happy. Not that sad. Just emotionally dead.

That is in part what kept me apart from resigning myself to that fate of being like that forever. If I did not ever dare to dream, if I ever quitened the internal dialouge that the reader does read on these pages, no amount of government support or help, could of helped me.

In the end, it is a battle only against yourself.

HeroineGirl, thank you for your feedback. Anything I can say in response must sound glib and patronizing, but I'll say some things anyway.

I think the last sentence of your comment sums it all up: "In the end, it is a battle only against yourself." Many human beings struggle with compulsive, self-defeating behaviors. It's one of the tragic elements of the human condition that, in my opinion, no government can protect us against. If drugs didn't exist, many of us would get in trouble in other ways. I have no substance-abuse problems, but I have other serious problems managing my life. I'm in danger of being thrown out of my apartment because I'm not willing to keep it clean, to name one example.

I can't believe this commericial actually "touched" you people. This has got to be one of the cheesiest things I've ever seen. Seriously. And whatever kind of emotion it was trying to convey was imnediately slaughtered by "Just do it." JUST DO WHAT?!!

Gah. Sorry. I hate Nike.

Maybe I'm too analytical. Maybe it's because I don't watch television. Maybe I just try to make sure that I don't use emotions to make purchasing decisions. But I just can't see how someone going to a baseball stadium all your life with a friend or brother or whatever equates to shoes. Maybe I'm just missing the point.

I LOVED this commercial!! Thanks for the link to it!!

Oh great! Now I'm all out of tissues because of you. *sniffle, sniffle* :)