When a person hears or sees the word America, what do they think? America is a country that almost everyone in the world knows about because there are certain words and phrases that can be used to describe it. Some common terms are sports, equality, the melting pot, powerful, freedom, hard working, and some more. All of these words make up what is known as the American Identity. This American Identity has been built up over time by people’s actions and thoughts. Many advertisements, TV shows, pictures, movies that use the american identity to draw attention. One such advertisement comes from Nike and is called the equality ad. This advertisement uses some of these identities to express their point and connect it to a larger identity. The Nike
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The advertisement starts with a scene of kids playing basketball. The court has chain nets and is in a run down neighborhood. The kids playing are african american and LeBron James is standing in the background watching them. Media often shows these types of scenes and portrays them as stereotypes. This is often done for added effect of emotion and a reminder of the past. From watching this, one can assume that Nike is trying to show the stereotypical area African Americans live in. Society has the stereotype that african americans live in run down neighborhoods called the ghetto. Even though the kids are in the “ghetto”, that doesn’t stop them from playing and trying to achieve their dreams. They are working just as hard as everyone else and have the same dedication as anyone else trying to achieve their dreams. The area they live and grow up in has no effect on them and their dreams. Because LeBron is standing in the background, we can assume this is the same situation he was in as a child. Now, he is a famous player and an american hero. This means that even though he was in a poor area and these stereotypes were on him, it didn’t stop him from playing basketball. The American Identity is used pretty heavily in this example because it shows how anyone from anywhere can work hard and achieve their dreams. If people like this can battle past stereotypes and come up from poor areas, they …show more content…
The founding fathers of this country made the Declaration of Independence to pronounce their freedom from Britain and highlight some rights of man. The Declaration states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” (US 1776). The Declaration of Independence can be related to the american identity because it is what gives us freedom. In this nike advertisement, the main message that they are trying to get out is equality for everyone. This can be related to the Declaration because it says that everyone is created equal and we all have rights that cannot be taken away. Nike accomplishes this by the scenes they show in their advertisement. First off, the people in the advertisement are mostly african american which are a minority race. Secondly, they are all working hard and have become successful. Finally, today they are american heros that people look up too. With all of this, they are trying to show that everyone is equal because we are all hard working and have freedom, which are part of the american identity. At the end of the advertisement, all of the people in the advertisement group up and stand together for equality. This shows how they believe they are equals as well and how the Declaration of Independence applies to
The advertisement starts with a scene of kids playing basketball. The court has chain nets and is in a run down neighborhood. The kids playing are african american and LeBron James is standing in the background watching them. Media often shows these types of scenes and portrays them as stereotypes. This is often done for added effect of emotion and a reminder of the past. From watching this, one can assume that Nike is trying to show the stereotypical area African Americans live in. Society has the stereotype that african americans live in run down neighborhoods called the ghetto. Even though the kids are in the “ghetto”, that doesn’t stop them from playing and trying to achieve their dreams. They are working just as hard as everyone else and have the same dedication as anyone else trying to achieve their dreams. The area they live and grow up in has no effect on them and their dreams. Because LeBron is standing in the background, we can assume this is the same situation he was in as a child. Now, he is a famous player and an american hero. This means that even though he was in a poor area and these stereotypes were on him, it didn’t stop him from playing basketball. The American Identity is used pretty heavily in this example because it shows how anyone from anywhere can work hard and achieve their dreams. If people like this can battle past stereotypes and come up from poor areas, they …show more content…
The founding fathers of this country made the Declaration of Independence to pronounce their freedom from Britain and highlight some rights of man. The Declaration states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” (US 1776). The Declaration of Independence can be related to the american identity because it is what gives us freedom. In this nike advertisement, the main message that they are trying to get out is equality for everyone. This can be related to the Declaration because it says that everyone is created equal and we all have rights that cannot be taken away. Nike accomplishes this by the scenes they show in their advertisement. First off, the people in the advertisement are mostly african american which are a minority race. Secondly, they are all working hard and have become successful. Finally, today they are american heros that people look up too. With all of this, they are trying to show that everyone is equal because we are all hard working and have freedom, which are part of the american identity. At the end of the advertisement, all of the people in the advertisement group up and stand together for equality. This shows how they believe they are equals as well and how the Declaration of Independence applies to