Creative Assignment 6- Semiotics #2

Denotations: Some things in this photo really stick out to me: the picture is of a young boy who is overweight. He is in the middle of nowhere, but the background is beautiful. He must be in the country because there are no buildings, cars or people around. It looks like to the left and right of him there are crops growing. The pavement seems to be very worn down in the middle. The sky shows the sun setting and is filled with clouds. The boy is running down the road and is covered in sweat. The Nike logo is right across his shirt with the words "Find Your Greatness" in bold right above it to emphasize the picture. 

Connotations: Nike is always promoting ads with famous athletes who are in shape and have killer bodies, so what are they saying by using this boy who is not as fit as others are? I think Nike is trying to embrace more people in their campaign and trying to motivate everyone to get involved in exercise. America has become rather obese in the past few years and exercise has seemed to have gone downhill. Nike is trying to make a point that exercise can be done by anyone, anytime, and anywhere no matter how far past the point of no return you think you are. Nike uses this boy because he is an average American with similar problems to many of us. We may work out and find nothing is happening, but what truly matters is that we are finding our "greatness." It does not matter that the boy is overweight, it matters that he is doing his best to get in shape and get back on track. The background really helps Nike's ad as well. The sun is setting and you would normally think the day is over and you should give up and start over tomorrow. Instead Nike is using the sunset to say that it is never too late to start. While the sun is setting it is creating a beautiful sky. It shows that if you work hard you will see changes and you can complete them if you work hard. The country area is also used in the theme of finding your greatness. Farms take time to produce food and at first it's all hard work and you don't think anything is happening. Slowly the food will grow and the countryside will blossom. Finding your greatness takes time, but it will amount to great things. Nike wanted us to know that it is never too late to start and it does not matter where we are on the road to fitness, we can always get back on track and find our greatness. That greatness does not always have to be defined by the success of athletes though. It can be as simple as getting up and going for a run. As long as we just do it, we will be great.