A Nike print ad campaign around its Inner Actives
sports bra line from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, S.F.,
set to break in August "shows a frontal shot of a woman --
neither a model nor a soccer player -- without a shirt or a
bra," according to Cuneo & Friedman of AD AGE, who write
that "at least one" publisher -- Conde Nast Publications
Exec VP Catherine Viscardi Johnston -- "requested" Nike
cover parts of the woman in issues that would appear on
newsstands. Johnston and other Conde Nast execs "counseled
Nike to do two versions" of the ad. Johnston: "They
concurred, so we will have [the ad] with the exposed breast
running in subscriber copies and one ad [with the breast]
covered for newsstands." Essence and Marie Claire, which
are two of the publications included in Nike's buy for the
ad, "initially rejected" the ad, but "later accepted the
unaltered version." Also, despite "speculation" that Nike
would use Women's World Cup footage for a TV spot, the
company "has decided it will not do that" (AD AGE, 7/19).
TWO AUDIENCES: Nike's copy for two of the ads reads:
"After years of exercise, what kind of shape will your
breasts be in?," and, "Exercise and tone every muscle in
your body, except the one in your breast." Women's Sports &
Fitness Publisher Suzanne Grimes, noting that magazine
subscribers will see the original ad, but "newsstand buyers
will see" the altered version: "We know our subscribers and
it's a sophisticated, well-educated audience. But on the
newsstand you can be less certain" (N.Y. POST, 7/20).
