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Appropriate Content? You Don’t Say

© Christopher Cummings

If you haven't seen the commercial, you've probably heard of it by now.

Distance runner Suzy Favor Hamilton is enjoying a relaxing evening alone, in a cabin in the middle of the woods, when she spots a man in a hockey mask about to attack her with a chainsaw. Wearing her sporty new Nikes, she bolts into the woods. She runs so fast, the masked madman can't keep up and eventually collapses, completely out of breath.

The tag line: "Why Sport? You'll Live Longer."

Want to see the commercial? Go to:
http://www.adcritic.com/content/nike-why-sport-chainsaw-olympics-nbc.html

The ad was intended as a spoof — and it used the cliched, archaic icon of the mask-wearing, chainsaw-wielding madman to help drive home the point.

The ad aired on NBC as the peacock network began its coverage of the Olympics in Sydney.

The network received an unspecified number of complaints from viewers that weekend, and pulled the ad.

"We are disappointed that NBC has chosen to take our ad off the air," Mike Wilskey, vice president of Nike, said in a statement. "However, this ad will continue to run in other media. Our rule has always been to respect the intelligence of our consumer. We know they get the joke."

Another vice president said, "I guess we felt it was a little ironic. [NBC] preapproved the ad before it ran in the Olympic spot."

Some say the commercial incites violence against women, and that's why it had to go.

Various people offline and on have debated the ad and NBC's pulling of it.

Personally, I don't get the big deal.

It's an ad, and it's obviously a spoof. I don't have a problem with that. However ... it seems whoever scheduled the ad didn't do their homework. According to About.com Global Business, 81% of the 190 million U.S. Olympics viewers are women.

Would women find a commercial about a woman running for her life a little offensive?

Not neccessarily. But ... could be.

78% of those 190 million viewers are kids. Would parents find that kind of imagery disturbing for their kids? Again ... could be.

What does all this have to do with content editing?

It's a reminder: You always need to say the right thing, to the right audience, at the right time. Sometimes, that's hard to do. Sometime, it's not. And it's your job as a content manager to help define and manage that messaging.

Why content? You tell me.

See you next time.

(Yeah, I know we were supposed to explore more of Flash's pitfalls. We'll do that next time. Promise.)