In the non-fiction text, Born to Run, author Christopher McDougall criticizes corporate America because they sacrificed the joy and simplicity of running for selfish reasons. American corporations are blinded by their greed and ambition of bolstering their own market value. By doing so, they become careless with regards to the authenticity of their running products. McDougall suggests corporate America has influenced athletic achievement in terms of wealth, rather than in terms of wisdom (94). McDougall is insightful and censures the big name athletic brands of America. He suggests corporations have been selling shoes that prevent runners from achieving athletic achievement. Founder of the modern running shoe, Bill Bowerman, took the
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Money and ignorance is the answer, but primarily money. Nike, Adidas, and other big name athletic brands harvested anything they could make money with. McDougall suggests corporations were avarice and hungry for any opportunity, like vultures scavenging and pecking at anything they could get their beaks on. McDougall realized that corporate America was oblivious to the impending doom of athletic achievement it would bring to runners across our country. Then, in a glimmer of hope, history began writing a new chapter for runners all across America (183). Big corporations finally smartened up and began doing their research concerning modern injuries that prevailed most of our athletes. Even though corporate America now has its scopes in the right direction, there is no doubt these corporations will continue to abuse their market power to sell anything with superficial value. Ultimately, McDougall’s work suggest that corporate America sold us a misleading vision of becoming “faster, skinnier, richer,” sexier and more powerful than any runner could imagine with the novel and simple idea of adding a piece of thick rubber between our feet and the ground (94). American corporations took the joy of running and corrupted it with their own self-interest. McDougall’s revelation of human running performance was running left undefiled by wealth would equate to the pinnacle of athletic
Money and ignorance is the answer, but primarily money. Nike, Adidas, and other big name athletic brands harvested anything they could make money with. McDougall suggests corporations were avarice and hungry for any opportunity, like vultures scavenging and pecking at anything they could get their beaks on. McDougall realized that corporate America was oblivious to the impending doom of athletic achievement it would bring to runners across our country. Then, in a glimmer of hope, history began writing a new chapter for runners all across America (183). Big corporations finally smartened up and began doing their research concerning modern injuries that prevailed most of our athletes. Even though corporate America now has its scopes in the right direction, there is no doubt these corporations will continue to abuse their market power to sell anything with superficial value. Ultimately, McDougall’s work suggest that corporate America sold us a misleading vision of becoming “faster, skinnier, richer,” sexier and more powerful than any runner could imagine with the novel and simple idea of adding a piece of thick rubber between our feet and the ground (94). American corporations took the joy of running and corrupted it with their own self-interest. McDougall’s revelation of human running performance was running left undefiled by wealth would equate to the pinnacle of athletic