Introduction
Nowadays, advertising serves to encode a message that the target audience may read and have the corresponding feeling. As far as valuable brands are concerned, it is not enough for them to lure society to buy their product. They seem to have a mission to implement certain values in their commercials. Adidas is generally agreed to be one of the trendsetters in this sphere. Therefore, this company provides people with advertisements fully dedicated to the burning issues of this age. In 2020 they released an advertisement entitled “Faster Than.”This is a unique video that provides absolutely no information about the sportswear. Still, it contains motivational words to help one be a better version of oneself.
Main body
In fact, it is hard to understand what goods “Faster Than” actually endorses. Judging by the fact that it depicts running people, it might be presupposed that a line of jogging shoes is advertised. Surprisingly, there is no focus on sportswear at all. The topic of sports serves as a background that may catch an eye occasionally. Such an approach to advertising is not new because it underlines one significant fact: Adidas is influential enough to make no effort to induce people to buy something. They may afford a two-minute video telling about something more important than shoes. Their shoes will be sold out because they are top-notch and time-proven.
Admittedly, among the popular social issues that big companies want to promote are inclusion and self-development. This is why “Faster Than” consists of a number of signs that may be easily interpreted by common people. Adidas creates such advertisements to keep pace with modern trends connected with tolerance and universal happiness. By following this advertising strategy, they are bound to get approval from the majority of the representatives of Western societies. It is the main goal of the company to receive as many positive responses as possible. Adidas is likely to expect people watching “Faster Than, To” to say – “I love Adidas because they are so progressive and so true!”
Nevertheless, the gist of any commercial is its manipulative nature. If one tries to decode all the obvious and hidden signs that a good video contains, they will be surprised by the number of tricks to persuade people into doing something. Usually, political parties use as many slogans and declarations as possible. Meanwhile, modern advertising is merged with politics. “Faster Than” cannot but support these politics. For instance, the climax of the advertisement ends with the phrase: “Be faster than inequality!” (StadiumFi, 2020). It is done to show that Adidas supports unprivileged people and kindly makes them support this very brand.
Another idea concerns diversity, especially issues concerning Black Lives Matter. It is generally recognized that without hiring African American actors, no big company can launch their new advertising campaign, avoiding scandals and even arbitration. Positive discrimination has become a must because it is one of the best ways to show a high level of progressive thought. Therefore, the opening frame is a person of color breathing before starting to run. This is a token of tolerance, showing that Adidas does its best to please its African American electorate.
Still, the idea of diversity is not only about skin color but also about body size. Somehow, the company that is expected to motivate people to keep fit does vice versa. According to “Faster Than,” too fast does not mean any aspirations for perfection (StadiumFi, 2020). It is more correct to strive to become a better version of oneself without comparing one’s achievements with their peers’ accomplishments. The advertisements depict unfit people to show that everyone deserves to do sports from time to time wearing Adidas no matter what they look like. It may seem a perfect example of a message promoting inclusion. All people are different, but they are equal and deserve the same.
Nevertheless, some of these signs can be interpreted in a different ways. For instance, the fact that people of color are brought forward may be considered an unnecessary political gesture (Qun, 2018). Some people think that using people of color for political motives or for the sake of profit is exploitation. Companies like Adidas are not interested in these people’s problems at all. They place them in commercials for the same reason admen placed naked women and kittens in each and every advertisement back in time.
As far as body positivity is concerned, there may be a claim that there is no harm in competition between people. Actually, the beauty of sports lies in the fact that people enter a contest. They are compared in body shape and sports accomplishments because there is only one winner. If one looks at sports from the perspective that Adidas supports, they will think that competition as the gist of sports is a corrupted idea. Interestingly, “Faster Than” probably contains the message: “Competition is toxic! It is self-development for the sake of pleasure that modern sports should be”. Still, there can be no development without comparison with others.
Conclusion
In conclusion, big companies tend to use politics to induce people to buy their products. The manipulative nature of modern commercials is advocated by noble motives that turn out to be controversial. Still, they give a company the opportunity to seem progressive in people’s eyes. They try to touch the hearts and souls of different groups of people by promoting diversity. Unfortunately, it may influence people’s opinions about things that have been natural for many years, such as competition.
Works Cited
“Adidas Faster Than.”YouTube, uploaded by StadiumFi, 2020.
Zhang, Qun. “Lean Six Sigma: A Literature Review.” Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, vol. 3, no. 10, 2018, pp. 599–605.