> A similar air of distanced curiousity for desaster and public humiliation
> can be seen in the present coverage of the Olympics. Japanese athletes
> are not doing very well, but instead of emphasizing the few medals they
> win (in order to instill a little more of that fighting spirit), the
> painful losses are shown over and over again. Certainly, humiliation and
> exploitation plays a part in American/European/... TV, too, but on the
> whole, I have come to think that American game-shows go for the winner
> rather than the loser, whereas here, losers definitely get more air-time.
> I am not sure how that can be related to violence/crime rates, but here
> it is, anyway.
>
> Birgit Kellner
> Department for Indian Philosophy
> University of Hiroshima
 
Has anyone seen the Nike "Air" commercials? They consist of dynamic
montage of athletes under extreme stress and/or pain. There are close-ups
of grimacing faces. There's a shot of a man spewing some kind of liquid
out of his mouth. There are track athletes falling over steples. After a
minute of these images the screen resolves to a solid color with the Nike
trademark and the word "Air". That's it. Why would a sports shoe
manufacturer take this direction for advertisement? It seems like the
marketing people Nike hired for this is made up of sports haters.
 
        paul ryersbach
 
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