I don't even have a whole bike
February 15, 2018 11:45 AM   Subscribe

Nike's new Nothing beats a Londoner ad really showcases the diversity of sporting London, including some familiar figures.
posted by MartinWisse (26 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
Not a sports fan and TBH any thought of the UK these days fills me with despair, but this is pretty lovely. Made me miss London.
posted by Artw at 11:49 AM on February 15, 2018 [3 favorites]


David Squires version: If you can afford to live in LDN, you're probably RMN ABRMVCH
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:08 PM on February 15, 2018 [8 favorites]


Nothing's more British than Nike, with the possible exception of Heinz Baked Beans
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:17 PM on February 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


YES YES and YES YES
posted by n9 at 12:23 PM on February 15, 2018


David Squires is persistently amazing, even though I don't know anything about football his comics still crack me up
posted by The River Ivel at 12:47 PM on February 15, 2018


I don't know who they are or what they were saying, but I liked it.
posted by schoolgirl report at 12:48 PM on February 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


Fuck the tory boy rower
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:36 PM on February 15, 2018 [10 favorites]


Eh, lost me at the typical and tired 'emasculation of east asian male' scene. Feels like nothing more than a series of haphazard stereotypes slammed together.
posted by suedehead at 2:05 PM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


It seems like half of the problems faced with athletes in London is London itself.
posted by alex_skazat at 2:38 PM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


Nothing's more British than Nike, with the possible exception of Heinz Baked Beans

Reebok = shattered
posted by Sys Rq at 2:40 PM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


Can confirm depiction of Peckham at night is accurate, also general state of bicycles being ridden in London.
posted by doop at 3:15 PM on February 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


Eh, lost me at the typical and tired 'emasculation of east asian male' scene. Feels like nothing more than a series of haphazard stereotypes slammed together.


I noticed that too. One East Asian guy in the whole commercial, fit and attractive, and he's clowned.
posted by Borborygmus at 3:44 PM on February 15, 2018 [3 favorites]


I haven't watched it, but do they say "Nike" as one syllable? That's like one thing I'm still not used to, over a decade on.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:52 PM on February 15, 2018


They don’t say it at all. They never do in Nike ads.

Here’s to never saying “Nike”: The cause of, and solution to, all of our pronunciation problems.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:47 PM on February 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


Also, if Gareth Southgate is the actual god of thunder, England might have a chance of beating Iceland this time around.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:37 PM on February 15, 2018 [1 favorite]


Fuck the tory boy rower

Instinctive class hate kicked in for that segment.
posted by Artw at 8:12 PM on February 15, 2018 [6 favorites]


That rowing segment seems really jarring in the context of the ad. They're obviously very anxious to be "street" everywhere else, so why undermine it all with that one guy?
posted by Paul Slade at 12:09 AM on February 16, 2018


This reminds me of nothing so much as the four Yorkshiremen sketch.

And the main message I get from it is that London is a terrible place to try to do pretty much anything at all. Which is fair, but I'm not sure why it makes for a good concept for an ad.
posted by Buck Alec at 1:43 AM on February 16, 2018


>That rowing segment seems really jarring in the context of the ad. They're obviously very anxious to be "street" everywhere else, so why undermine it all with that one guy?

To poke fun at him?
posted by NoiselessPenguin at 1:43 AM on February 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


And the main message I get from it is that London is a terrible place to try to do pretty much anything at all.

It's supposed to be more like "London can be a difficult environment in which to excel, but we excel nonetheless, making us extra fucking special." Which is good if your target market is regular people in and around London.

And the upper-class rower is there to also appeal to kids who look and live more like that, while reminding others that they can and do excel even without the literal boatloads of well-to-do, well-connected supporters some people have.
posted by pracowity at 2:29 AM on February 16, 2018 [4 favorites]


Third of Britain's Rio medallists went to private schools - Rowing it's half. Percentage of uk school children in private schools as a whole = 7%
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:25 AM on February 16, 2018


I don’t really understand how associating your product with London is going to help you in the rest of the country.
But then I’m an old fart who isn’t quite sure whether or not this is basically a shoe ad.
posted by Segundus at 3:51 AM on February 16, 2018


Lots of people live in and around London.
posted by Artw at 7:03 AM on February 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


@segundus, the ad might just be aimed at kids in London, there's a lot of them
posted by stevedawg at 7:13 AM on February 16, 2018 [3 favorites]


> I don’t really understand how associating your product with London is going to help you in the rest of the country.

London metro area is 14 million people, UK+NI is 66 million, subtract Scotland and NI as not caring much about London, and you're looking at an ad targeted at 20-25% of the population of a country. I think that justifies a 3 minute ad.
posted by mrzarquon at 7:53 AM on February 16, 2018 [2 favorites]


And the remaining 75-80% of the country are thoroughly fed up with everything being done for Londoners' sake
posted by Burn_IT at 8:31 AM on February 16, 2018 [1 favorite]


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