The highlight of the Super Bowl every year is seeing all the fun ads that companies can put together in hopes of capturing the hearts and minds of viewers. One that made an impact was Nike’s all-female ad that included former Hawkeye basketball star and current Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark. The Nike ad also included other star-studded athletes such as A’ja Wilson, JuJu Watkins, Jordan Chiles, Sabrina Ionescu, Sha’Carri Richardson, Alexia Putellas, Aryna Sabalenka and Sophia Smith Wilson.
The commercial features the athletes dominating in their respective sports and was intermixed with some in-studio cameos, featuring Grammy-award winner Doechii doing voice overs. The message behind the ad was “So Win” in which Nike calls its new anthem. Doechii talks about some of the many limitations that are oftentimes put on female athletes such as their behavior to how they look.
It is no surprise of the timing of this ad, given the massive increase in viewership and investment in women’s sports. This is the first Nike Super Bowl ad since 1998, so it is quite a big deal that the brand chose to end its almost 30-year hiatus by highlighting women in sports, given that the Super Bowl is a major event that is centered around men.
The ad talks about all the things that you can’t do as a woman in sports such as, you can’t be demanding, and you can’t be relentless, as well as you can’t put yourself first, but counters back with so put yourself first at the start of the video. The ad ends with, “You can’t be proud, you can’t keep score, you can’t stand out. Whatever you do, you can’t win, So WIN.”
With this being the first ad they have debuted in almost 30 years, they really hit it out of the park in terms of making a statement with it. The high-level caliber athletes they included in it, such as Iowa’s own Caitlin Clark, showcase that although everyone says that you “can’t” do anything being a girl in sports, you can. They pride themselves on showcasing in the ad how the best way to prove this to the world is to win, so the skeptics have nothing to say about it in return and keep quiet.
