Nike

As opposed to extremists on either side of the interpretative question, I fall most nearly to the constructivist point of view in that I view meaning as interplay between text and the reader. .
             Ads work on a variety of different levels including, but not limited to, sign typology, paradigmatic meaning, psychological appeals, emotion, roles, values/beliefs, and knowledge. Again, the impact of an ad comes from the interplay between these various aspects of make-up and the reader's own notions about him/herself and the world. .
             Rubber-soled shoes were first mass-marketed as canvas-top "sneakers- by U.S. Rubber, with its keds ® in 1917. But the elevation of athletic shoe manufacture to both a science and a fashion was due largely due to Phil Knight and Steve Bowerman of Oregon. .
             In 1958, Phil Knight, a business major a the University of Oregon, and a miler on the track team, shared with his coach, Bill Bowerman, a dissatisfaction with the clumsiness of American running shoes. They formed a company in 1964 to market a lighter and more comfortable shoe designed by Bowerman. In 1968, this company became NIKE, Inc.--- named for the Greek goddess of Victory. At first, Knight and Bowerman sold their shoes in person, at track meets across the Western US. Their company thrived through a classic combination of entrepreneurship and innovation. Bowerman's most memorable technical breakthrough was the optimal traction of the waffle soles he invented by shaping rubber in the waffle iron in his kitchen (1972). Other essential innovations were the wedged heel, the cushioned mid-sole, and nylon uppers. Knight's first great marketing ploy was announcing that "four of the top seven finishers- in the marathon at the 1972 Olympic Trials had worn Nike's (the first three r!.
             unners, in fact, had worn West German Adidas ®). Through the 80s and 90s, NIKE's advertisements helped make it by far the foremost retailer of athletic shoes world-wide, thanks to the endorsements from superstars like Michael Jordan, and the catchy slogans like "Just Do It.