Punk Jump Up (Visual Analysis)

PUNKS JUMP UP

Nike basketball shoes are some of the most popular hooping shoes in the game. With athletes like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant being sponsored, of course the technology in these kicks is top of the line. The Nike Hyperdunk was a highly anticipated shoe due to lots of hype at the time of its initial release. Nike advertisements hyped these dunks up even more. In an ad I found they lead the audience to believe that with a pair of these shoes you can jump over opponent s on the court.

One ad I came across was the “PUNKS JUMP UP”. This ad was created introducing the shoe and its release date back in July of 2010. The first thing that drew me to this ad wasn’t the shoe despite the fact that is supposed to be selling the shoes; it was the guy in the background taking a face full of nuts. After taking time looking at this ad I was left to believe that with a pair of these shoes I wouldn’t be one of the punks who jump up. I’d be one of those bosses who jump over. That can’t be right can it? I, DeVon Benard could finally get those hops I’ve been longing for all my life with one pair of basketball shoes. Im not buying it, not the shoe that is (because I already have it) but I’m not buying the fact that I could jump OVER someone. But, Nike sure did a good job of making me think so with tools like color choice and poses of people.

The first and probably most noticeable tool is the color choice of this ad. The background is mostly black and that is a color that often means power. Not only is background black but the swoosh accent of the shoe is black along with the sole of the shoe. The sole which is on the bottom of the shoe transfers into meaning that you’re getting all of this power from your feet in order to complete the daring move of jumping over your opposing players which is very misleading.
Secondly the poses of the two males in this photo makes it all that much better. With a closer look we can see that the male on top is grabbing his crotch while he soars over what I like to call the “victim” on the bottom. To me in most cases, clutching your kahunas means that you’re trying to make a statement, as if jumping over someone and finishing at the net weren’t enough just go ahead and grab your nuts while you’re at it. While the poor guy on the bottom is being embarrassed his facial expressions say enough and he’s most likely just as shocked as I am (either that or his high flying opponent really hasn’t showered in a long time).

With all said and done, I hope that you fellow basketball players out there really don’t fall for such advertisements like these. Although they are extremely creative and well thought out, I know for a fact that it takes more than a pair of kicks to get anywhere near jumping over someone. You should probably start doing some very heavy lower body exercises before even thinking about trying it but as far as the shoe goes, it’s not going to magically give you hops. If anything, itll get you a few compliments and maybe intimidate opposing players on the courts.

Rookies..

When I first starting working at the outlet I got an idea of how things worked very quickly and after working for over a year at Nike I considered myself to be a “veteran” on the job. I know it’s kind of a whack or arrogant thing for me to say but if you worked with the people I did, you might have a better understanding. Nike was hiring all the time and the new hires took an unusually long time to get in the swing of things. Which resulted in work going slower and us getting behind and that was never a good thing.

I always worked closing shift often and most of my fellow employees that have been there as long as me or longer knew that closing was serious business because we all couldn’t wait to get off. With up to six new hires AKA “rookies” working with me it was always a struggle giving them something to do that would actually help us get out quicker. In other words they were my “Achilles heel” and I really hated having to do stuff while they stand around and watch because they don’t know how to do something or figured that there was nothing else to do. And often times there was ALWAYS more stuff to do.

Well needless to say, I struggled with doing my part to help close the store and getting us in a timely manner. I thought to myself if I was like them when I first started and of course I thought otherwise. I figured I should have a little patience with them and kind of show them the ropes and give them a break. They picked up the pace a tiny bit more but it was better than nothing. I didn’t have to stop what I was doing anymore to try and help them and they were doing things on their own and were no longer my “Achilles heel”.

Tis The Season

As the holiday season approaches there is a lot of giving going on among the sneaker community. Nicekicks (http://www.nicekicks.com/) is doing a giveaway called the #PAIRADAYGIVEAWAY where they give a pair of hot kicks off every day to a random contestant. You can enter by liking their page on facebook, following them on twitter @nicekicks and retweeting each day as many times as you want, following them on instagram and liking the photo of the shoe that they are giving away that day, and lastly entering by email. I do three of enter three different ways a day and am crossing my fingers that just maybe I’ll win a pair of kicks. Even if I don’t, it’s still nice of them to do and the whole sneaker community should appreciate the gesture. Although I wear Nikes, I entered today for a chance to win a pair of Adidas Conductor Hi “Defense” and you could do so through this link. http://www.nicekicks.com/2012/12/pairadaygiveaway-adidas-conductor-defense/
Goodluck and happy holidays.

Heat Calendar

There is a lot of social networking that comes with sneakers. One of the biggest and most influential is Instagram. If you ever want to see a great collection of sneakers just search “uptown2k” or “heatonmyfeet” on instagram and when you get to their pages you won’t be disappointed. The creativity behind people’s shots takes the love for sneakers to whole new level and in my eyes sneakers are the new diamonds. A lot of girls or “chicks” so to speak are starting to be recognized for having tremendous collections of Nikes and are being put on the map. The profile of “HeatOnMyFeet” has helped get these girls out there with a calendar competition. He has asked those who want to be on the calendar to submit a artistic shot of them and their hottest kicks and they have to reach a certain number of likes on their photo in order to make the cut. You can check out the final 12 participants here on his page (http://instagram.com/p/TBV-Fao4aJ/) and might even want to cop a calendar when they drop. I know I will!