Nike Advertisement“Yesterday You Said

Tomorrow”By: Shannon Stevens

This advertisement was first released in New York City in 2008 by Nike. It is used to create motivation for anyone

especially procrastinators.

Who is the audience?

The audience in this advertisement could be

anyone, but particularly is associated with

procrastinators or people that use “tomorrow” as

an excuse to put things off today. This could be athletes who put off

practice, students who put off homework, or

every day people putting off exercise. Nike is telling

the audience to not procrastinate and to get

out and “Just Do It.”

What is the purpose?

The purpose is to persuade the audience to take action. How many times have you

said, “I’ll do that tomorrow?” Now think of how many times you actually did that thing the

next day. Nike is demonstrating that nothing

gets done when it is constantly being put off. Since this is a Nike advertisement,

the persuasion mainly focuses on getting out and getting fit today, rather than tomorrow.

If you go about every day with the mindset of “Tomorrow” then it’s harder to achieve

your goals or success.

What are the techniques?

One technique used in this advertisement is

emotional appeal. The ad makes the audience feel guilty of being lazy and not getting things

done. It gives them motivation to actually want to get active and

get fit, instead of putting their problems aside.

Another technique used in this ad is diction,

because it singles out the particular person

reading it by using the word “YOU”.

What are the composition factors?

Nike uses a dark background in this ad and

white lettering to make your eyes go directly to the phrase. There is no

motion going on anywhere in the picture. It is plain,

concise, and to the point. By making the picture

plain and not busy, Nike gets its point across better

to the audience. This ad also uses bold lettering and words in all caps to

make it sound more forceful.

What are the appeals?

ETHOSThis advertisement uses ethos because Nike is a trustworthy

brand whose company is based on being active.

PATHOSThis advertisement uses

pathos by creating an emotional appeal of

motivation. The phrase gets the audiences attention and

makes them feel like they need to get out and do things

instead of putting them off until tomorrow.

MLA CITATIONBrennen Hodge. “Yesterday you said tomorrow.Guess what today is?” www. brennenhodge.com. Brennen Hodge, Web. 30 June 2008.