Advertising appeals in Lebron James' new Nike commercial

The new Nike commercial featuring Lebron James is powerful and pervasive in that fact that it shows Lebron as his own man.  It goes through many different scenes of James' life from what is known as "the decision", to the taking down of the "we are all witnesses" poster from Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, and even to the hallways of his high school with Lebron holding his old textbooks.  The constant repetition in the advertisement is Lebron asking the viewer "what should I do?"  In his series of questions though he tends to ask several in a row that bring up multiple criticism that he took- "Should I tell you I'm a championship chaser? Did it for the money? Rings?"  This is powerful because it shows how everyone criticized him in just about every way possible.  He shows his independence by then asking the viewer "Should I be who you want me to be?"

This advertisement shows prominence and attention for Lebron James.  The general characteristics of this kind of ad are showing a person or product to be of a high social status in society and to focus all of the attention on them.  These ads seem to say that if you wear the stuff that the stars in the ads wear then you can be the same kind of person as them.  The success of these ads depends on the belief that perception is reality.  If the public who watches these ads thinks that Lebron is the great basketball player he is or even more simple the independent man who does not care what others say about him then they are more willing to buy the shoes and apparel that he wears.

The commercial exemplifies a traditional powerful and pervasive advertisement by showing Lebron in a number of different situation asking questions about what he should do but in the end he controls his own will.  In this case it shows that by buying Lebron's shoes you become your own man.  The commercial is solely focused on Lebron with no one else depicted throughout the ad except people in the background.  With all of the attention being on Lebron and him ultimately deciding his own fate it shows the viewer that no matter what the situation is you can be a cool independent individual by wearing his shoes.  Lebron has power in society today; his decisions will affect what we see on the news and to see someone is that position as being independent exemplifies to everyday citizens that they can make independent choices in their lives as well.

Here is the link to the commercial... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdtejCR413c