Nike Culture : The Sign of the Swoosh

by Robert Goldman

• ISBN13: 9780761961482
• ISBN10: 0761961488
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-02-13
• Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd

Summary

This book is one of the first to take an in-depth look at how an advertising image works. It situates the Nike swoosh logo in terms of political economy, sociology, culture and semiotics. Nike Culture describes and deconstructs the themes and structures of Nike's advertising, outlines the contradictions between image and practice, and explores the logic of the sign economy. In addition, by focusing on issues revolving around representations of race, class and gender, the desire for both community and recognition, and the construction of sport as a spiritual enterprise, the book offers insights into the cultural contradictions embedded in sports culture.

Author Biography

Stephen Papson is Professor of Sociology at St Lawrence University.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Acknowledgments	xi
Suddenly the Swoosh is Everywhere	1	(23)
Nike's Global Landscape	4	(12)
Logomania	16	(3)
The Great American Philosophy: ``Just Do It''	19	(5)
Just Metacommunicate It	24	(22)
Appropriation	26	(7)
Tone of Voice: Metacommunication and Subtext	33	(3)
Hailing Sports Cultures	36	(4)
Advertising and the Knowing Wink	40	(3)
Exposing Commercialism?	43	(3)
Nike and the Construction of a Celebrity Democracy	46	(28)
The Ambivalence of Hero Worship	47	(10)
The Multiple Personalities of Nike	57	(4)
The Community of Sport and Play	61	(7)
Transcendence in the Human Community	68	(6)
Reflexivity and Irreverence	74	(20)
Constructing Irreverence and Sign Value	74	(5)
The Absence of the Commodity	79	(2)
Media-Referential Irreverence	81	(3)
The Politics of Irreverence	84	(2)
In Your Face Cynicism	86	(2)
Irreverence Feeding Cynicism	88	(2)
You Suck!	90	(4)
Alienation, Hope and Transcendence: Determinism or Determination?	94	(24)
Poverty, Hope, and Transcendence	94	(3)
The ``Work'' Ethic: Cultural Capital Made the Old-Fashioned Way	97	(3)
Appropriating African American Culture	100	(3)
Hyperauthenticity and ``Street'' Vernacular	103	(6)
The Shadows of Race and Class	109	(4)
Signifiers of Alienation and Humanity	113	(5)
Transcending Difference? Representing Women in Nike's World	118	(28)
Gender Difference in Nike ads	120	(2)
Reacting Against the Male Gaze	122	(4)
Hailing a New Market in a Different Voice	126	(14)
Constructing Female Celebrity Athletes	140	(3)
The New Woman in the New Capitalist World Order	143	(3)
There are Many Paths to Heaven	146	(23)
Spitituality a la Carte	147	(6)
Suffering to Win	153	(8)
Re-Enchanting a Disenchanted World	161	(8)
``Just Do It,'' but not on My Planet	169	(18)
From Cultural Icon to Symbolic Capital	169	(2)
The Image of Philosophy or the Philosophy of Image?	171	(4)
Overswooshification	175	(3)
Contested Discourses	178	(5)
The Swoosh and its Contradictions	183	(4)
Index	187