How Vintage Nike Ads Kept Me Off Prozac

all your life you are told the things you cannot do, nike inspiration

This page is yellowed with age, wrinkled from at least a dozen moves, and stained with mysterious drops which could be anything from tears to beer.  It has been taped to dorm room walls, lost in precious memory boxes, emblazoned across my fridge with kitsch magnets, and currently graces my office bulletin board where I can read it every day.

measureofawoman Nike ad, a woman is often measured by things she cannot control

These pages were a part of a phenomenal print ad campaign which ran during some the most formative and tumultuous times of my life, those last years of high school and early college.  Angst filled years when I didn’t fit in with any crowd.  Insecure years when I doubted not only my external beauty but the depth of what was hidden inside.   Experimental years when I vacillated between the girl I was and the woman I wanted to become.   Years when I made terrible mistakes and lifelong friends as I lost both my innocence and my mind at  times.


you do not have to be your mother,

These ads spoke to me, were written for me, they were modern day mantras that boosted my spirits and kept me from drowning myself in vodka or Prozac.  I actually changed my major from journalism to advertising as these ads flooded the pages of my Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Rolling Stone magazines.  I too wanted to create edicts of empowerment for the women of the world.

But the power of persuasion can work for both good and evil.  Most advertisements, whether print, television or online, tell women we are never thin enough, not attractive or sexy enough,  and we have horrible hair.  We drive a car our kid’s hate and our husbands must not love us since they don’t give us expensive jewelry in front of a roaring fire.   Their message is clear: we are not good enough.

Nike told us we were.
And 20 years later, we still are.
Thanks, Nike.

7 thoughts on “How Vintage Nike Ads Kept Me Off Prozac

  1. Kim Haas

    I don’t remember this at all but I totally LOVE it. Especially “Statistics Lie”. So true. Glad I found a fellow SAHM via SheWrites. Your voice is completely engaging as well as funny, which I envy.

    Reply
  2. thea

    Stumbled across your blog, and this blog and couldn’t help but smile. I love Nike ads and have read, reread, and torn many out in my life time. They have a beautiful way of reminding me what a wonderfully powerful thing it is to be a woman. I can’t help but think their ads helped me start running, and finish my first marathon. Thanks so much for sharing these!

    Reply
  3. J. Boyle

    Hi Kerry,

    I am a current junior sociology major at Princeton University and I’m working on a paper about advertisements geared towards women and how it has or hasn’t changed with changes in society. I’m wondering if you know anything about where I could find these vintage ads online? I’m assuming you had these yourself from old magazines, if so could you tell me which magazines/issue they were? Let me know any information you have if you can please.

    Sincerely,

    J. Boyle

    Reply
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  5. Jacqueline

    I had the same ones and a few other of the ads they ran in the 1990’s and I agree with you-these ads were my mantra. I taped them in my college bulletin board!

    Reply
  6. Caryn Williams

    Years ago, I framed each of the 4 pages of this ad and moved them from home to home, they were even displayed on my cubicle at work. Now, newly 70, I have a new use for the ad that I will share. I ordered an 8 picture frame. I will put the ad text which is 4X6 in four the frames. In the other four frames I have printed 4X6 photos of my grandmother at age 7, my mother at age 7, me at age 5, and my two granddaughters (who are 4 and 10). I will use the original pages in my frame but wanted a printed copy for my sister because the original ad does not scan clearly.

    Reply

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