NBC Pulls Nike's Olympic Ad Parody of Horror Movie

P O R T L A N D, Ore., Sept. 19, 2000 -- Nike Chairman Phil Knight said Monday that NBC has pulled one of the athletic shoe giant’s commercials — a “slasher” movie parody — from the television network’s Olympic advertising lineup.

The ad begins with distance runner Suzy Favor Hamilton spottinga man in a hockey mask, much like the “Jason” character from thehugely popular Friday the 13th movies, preparing to attack herwith a chainsaw.

Hamilton runs off and keeps up such a strong pace the maskedattacker collapses in wheezing exhaustion. The tag line at the endof the ad says: “Why sport? You’ll live longer.”

The ad drew laughs from the crowd at Nike’s annual shareholdermeeting in Portland on Monday, along with a second ad featuringOlympic cyclist Lance Armstrong using mouth-to-trunk resuscitationto revive a circus elephant that quit breathing.

The answer to the question, “Why sport?” in the Armstrong adis “Healthy lungs.”

Nike Disappointed with Response

An NBC spokeswoman in Australia had no immediate comment on theHamilton ad.

But Nike vice president Charles Denson said company officialswere disappointed in the response.

“I guess we felt it was a little ironic,” Denson said, because“they [NBC] preapproved the ad before it ran in the Olympicspot.”

Earlier, at the shareholder meeting before it was learned the adhad been pulled, Denson responded to an audience question askingwhether the ad might be seen as encouraging violence toward women.

He said it was simply intended to be a parody and that Hamiltonhad fun filming the ad.

“We have a history of making controversial ads, and wecertainly have succeeded in that,” Denson said.