When you talk corporate mayhem or drama, at least everyone would like to hear of it. Well in 1989 American multinational, Nike, did one better.
In 1989, the designer conglomerate came to Kenya to shoot an advertisement for their just-released Nike hiking shoes. The commercial would feature Samburu tribesmen.
As the advert rolled out, the camera closed in on a Samburu man conversing in his native language, and as he spoke Nike’s slogan ‘Just do it’ appeared at the bottom of the screen.
Interestingly, the world all over, inclusive of Kenyans that did not speak the language or rather comprehend it, consumed the content as it was conveyed.
However, Lee Cronk, an anthropologist at the University of Cincinnati, was among the few who quickly learned that what the Samburu man said in the commercial was totally different from the Nike slogan that displayed on the screen.
It was established that the man actually stated, “I don’t want these, give me bigger shoes.” instead of saying ‘Just do it’ in his native Samburu language.
Speaking to the New York Times, then Nike spokesperson Elizabeth Dolan revealed that they had made an assumption that the rest of the world would not comprehend.
“We thought nobody in America would know what he said,” Dolan stated.
However, questions would then arise as to whether Nike actually knew that what the Samburu man had said was totally different from their slogan.
“We knew what he was saying. It was our line,” Dolan affirmed.
She revealed that their initial intent was to have a joke at the end of the commercial where the Samburu man would complain that they had sent him smaller shoes, but the editors decided that the Nike slogan worked better.
“It was so lovely and beautiful, we dropped the joke,” Dolan stated.
Dolan, however, revealed that the tribesman did repeat a phrase that was the Samburu equivalent of ‘just do it’ but the first video worked better.
“The Maa version of ‘Just do it’ was too long for a 30-second spot,” Dolan revealed.
Nike conceded that there was an earlier script that called for the tribesman’s ironic comment but chose to stick with its slogan as the subtitle.
