Malcolm McCluskey

Sharyn Hunter

English 1101

4 March 2021

The Sneaker Makes The Man

Everyone wants to look good and wear the best brands. Nike is one of those brands. It is a

company that is known for selling shoes. More specifically, they sell sneakers. Just about

everyone owns a pair of Nikes. Some people even collect them and we all wear shoes just about

everyday. Another thing that Nike is known for is their advertising. They spend millions every

year on advertising. One of their ads is trying to sell people one of their many pairs of sneakers.

The ad has a black background and a faint outline of Ironman behind everything else. In front of

this is the phrase,”The Sneaker Makes The Man”. This is reminiscent of the old saying,”The suit

makes the man”. In front of the phrase is the product that Nike is trying to sell. It looks like many

of their other sneakers except this sneaker is in the powerful colors of Ironman. This ad is using

something that most Americans hold dear. It’s using one of the largest American values, which is

to look good for society. More specifically, the ad is pointed toward men who have that value

embedded in their personality that they need to look good for society. It’s telling men that to be a

man, you would need to wear this sneaker. This is an American value that many disagree with.
Some men want to show that they can do this without aid of a product and others don’t want to

be seen this way. This ad is also using a character that a lot of people look up to. Most people I

know grew up watching Ironman movies and reading about him in comics. This ad is using

Ironman as another reason to buy the shoe. Most Americans today love this character. The ad

uses the value to its advantage. Overall, this ad does its job of making people want to buy the

product.

Before people go out for the day, everyone makes sure that they look presentable for

society. This plays a big role in people’s everyday lives. The ad knows that most people value

what they look like. In the very front of the ad is a bright pair of sneakers. Even though many

people would think these shoes look good, there are less people that would buy them. That is

why this ad is pointed at two different types of people. One person may want the sneakers

because the color and style appeals to them and they think that the sneakers will make them a

“man”. Another person may want the sneakers because they are a fan of Ironman. The main

point is that even though most Americans buying this shoe are all Americans, everyone is

entitled to their own opinion on how the shoes look and this ad has something that will catch the

eye of a lot of people. The thing that most people value is looking good for society and this ad

does a great job of focusing on the group that would buy these sneakers.

Most men value their masculinity. Men want to seem brave and handsome. Another name

for it is manly. This Nike ad focuses on being a man. In the middle of the ad it has the

phrase,”The Sneaker Makes The Man”. This leads a man to believe that this sneaker will make

them more manly. When making this ad, Nike knew that most men value their masculinity. This

is why Nike used the phrase at the top of the ad which is reminiscent of the old saying,”The suit

makes the man”. This saying is used often in society and is basically saying that depending on
the suit a man wears will dictate how manly he is. If a man wears an extravagant suit then he will

be seen as manly and the suit just adds to it. If he has an old suit on then he might be seen as less

of a man. The ad changed this saying for the product that Nike is selling and is telling

consumers this is such a nice sneaker that will make you be seen as a man by society and that

owning or not owning this sneaker will dictate how manly you are.

One of the most prominent values in America is the value people put on famous figures.

Mostly everyone in America values celebrities. We want to be like our favorite athletes, movie

stars and characters. Most advertisements use some sort of celebrity to endorse their product. It

can be a real person or it can be a famous fictional character. In this case Nike based their

product off of a very famous character from movies and comics. Ironman is known to many as a

very heroic and relatable character. The ad is heavily focused on this. The phrase in the middle of

the ad says that the sneaker makes the man and the product is even based off the color of

Ironman's armour. Ironman is also known as a very strong and brave character and this helps to

further the point that these sneakers will “make the man”. Even though Ironman is a main selling

point of these shoes, he isn’t in the very front of the ad. He’s in the background of the ad. Sort of

standing in the shadows. Most people won’t really read into this and just think that it's cool that

he is standing in the shadows. It looks manly and that's the point. The whole ad just screams

masculinity.

Everyone values going out for the day looking like a million bucks. Nike is one of the

many brands that advertises great looking apparel. Some of their most famous ads are for their

sneakers. One such ad is for their Ironman shoes. Everyone knows that the ad does its job, but

what some don’t know is how the ad uses American values to get people to buy Nike’s new

sneaker. First, it plays off the American value that most people have of looking good for society.
The sneaker just looks appealing. Second, they use a value that most American men have of

being masculine by using the phrase, “The Sneaker Makes The Man”. This is reminiscent of the

old saying,”The suit makes the man”. Basically the ad says that to be a man, you need this

sneaker. Third, the ad uses Ironman who is a very well-known movie character. Many people

look up to him and he is used to reinforce that the sneakers are manly. A person could just look

at this ad and see the surface of it. It’s an ad that looks good and makes people want to buy these

sneakers. This ad perfectly uses American values to influence people that this sneaker is a good

product.