Nike Rise Commercial

Nike has launched their new Lebron James commercial, named “Rise”, in order to defned their athlete’s most recent decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and go to the Miami Heat.  Lebron received a lot of anger and hate towards him for switching teams.

            People have said that James has ruined his career by making this switch.  There have been comments about how he has ruined his legacy as an all-time NBA great, that he will never live up to his expectations and that he is a sell-out.  Former NBA players such as Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan have both said that they have lost all respect for James and that he will never be considered to be as good as they are. 

            To combat all these issues Nike released a commercial that not only addresses the issues but shows that Nike and James are not worried about what people have to say.  These address the multiple back lashings that I have discussed in the commercial.  The commercial is a very smart campaign because where in most cases athletes would stand down to the media and admit they were wrong and regret their decisions.  This commercial shows that James is not afraid to face criticism and that he is ready for whatever the media throws his way.  It also show that Nike still fully supports James and will continue to do so no matter what others have to say about James. 

            The one problem with the commercial is that is as opened up James to more scrutiny from other people.   There have been several parodies on the video including one the TV show South Park.  Also the people of Cleveland have come up with their own version of the commercial where the bash James harder than ever before.  They take all the words that James says in his commercial and they twist them so that it hurts his image.  They use phrases such as quitter, trader, back stabber and ending the commercial with the phrase “Quietness” upside down (in the original commercial it ends with “Witness”).  It is a very harsh commercial and I am interested to see how the video affects the media.

            Overall I understand that the city of Cleveland is very upset with James and that they are hurt by his actions and the team is not nearly as good now.  But first and above all, the NBA is a business.  Is harsh as it is to say James does not owe it to the city to keep playing there.  He had every right to switch teams and this happens all the time in the NBA.  The Cavaliers did not bring in any players to help James and he had to carry the entire team on his back.  I believe this is why he left and went to Miami to play with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.  James has no found what he has been looking for the past few years, a load of great players for teammates, which is crucial this day and age in the NBA, and a chance to win the Championship. 

  

Here are the video links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdtejCR413c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvgD9HNTMkM