Running Head: The Effect of Rhetoric on Consumer Psychology

Final Draft
The Effect of Nikes Marketing & Advertising Techniques on Consumer Psychology
Michael Loiseau
University of Notre Dame

Running Head: The Effect of Rhetoric on Consumer Psychology

Abstract
Consumers are not aware of the ubiquitous influence that companies have on them in an attempt
to persuade them to favor their product. As people live their daily lives, they are surrounded by
advertisements, logos, slogans, etc., all in an attempt by companies to establish a positive
image in the minds of consumers. The question then comes up about how these influences
affect todays population when coming to a conclusion on what they like and what they dislike.
How we view different brands can be measured in a variety of ways such as likes and follows on
social media, ranks in magazines, ratings by public opinion polls, endorsements by figureheads,
and product sales. In this essay, we will be looking at how rhetoric in the form of marketing and
advertising strategies by the brand Nike affects the thoughts and opinions of consumers. The
following questions are samples of questions that can be asked regarding the topic at hand. How
has rhetoric in commercials and advertisements possibly affected consumers perceptions of the
brand Nike? Why do viewers feel more or less inclined to buy a product after viewing a piece of
rhetoric in the form of a slogan, advertisement, brand logo, etc.? What role does consumer
psychology play in forming pieces of rhetoric that are advertising a product?
Keywords: advertising, rhetoric, effects, population, psychology, marketing

Running Head: The Effect of Rhetoric on Consumer Psychology

The concept of advertising in an attempt to sell a product or service has been around for
centuries. However, much has changed since the earliest forms of advertising were introduced to
communities. Since advertising has been described as being concerned with the formation of
positive attitudes towards specific products (Mitchell 119), today, brands, logos, and slogans
can now be found on nearly all products that people use today in an attempt to. Almost
everything from what people wear, to tools that people use, and to what they view throughout
their daily lives is influenced by some form of rhetoric. People, or more specifically consumers,
are not consciously aware of the influences that companies make on them in an attempt to shape
their personal perceptions of a product. Every thought of a product or viewing of an
advertisement weighs on ones personal perception of a product no matter how large or small the
stimulant is. This happens because as we view advertisements repeatedly, our inclination to
purchase or avoid a product grows or declines by an almost insignificant amount. Repetition,
user image, image advertising, and the level of involvement that people have when thinking
about an advertisement all play a role in how consumers make a product evaluation. Whether this
product evaluation is one that is positive or negative depends on the cognitive response to the
stimuli that is presented. Nike is just one example of a well-known brand with a long history of
successful marketing and advertising techniques. However, in more recent years they have rose
to prominence as the worlds largest and debatably most successful sports company in the world.
Although Nikes advertising and marketing techniques may lose potential customers due to a
general targeted audience, Nikes use of iconic athletes, repetitive visuals, and rhetoric in
slogans, logos, and advertisements leads most consumers to have a positive perception of Nikes
products.

Running Head: The Effect of Rhetoric on Consumer Psychology

Since the introduction of the name Nike to the formerly known Blue Ribbon Sports
brand, it is clearly evident that rhetoric has been playing a large part in the formation of their
brand image. A definition of the word Nike by Merriam-Webster, defines the name Nike as a
word meaning victory being derived from the Greek goddess of victory. This name promotes a
winning attitude to athletes and non-athletes alike who are aware of this relationship between
brand name and origin. This positive, winning attitude that is promoted to those who view the
brand is translated as a positive outlook in the minds of most consumers because of the human
tendency to be affiliated with success.
Rhetoric plays a large part in how we view the brands that we see every day and as it can
be seen even a word as simple as Nike can be considered a powerful form of rhetoric if used in
the correct context as it is here when promoting a sports product. Rhetoric, as defined by George
Kennedy in Herricks work, The History and Theory of Rhetoric, is the energy inherent in
emotion and thought, transmitted through a system of signs, including language, to others to
influence their decisions or actions (5). A highly influential piece of rhetoric used by Nike early
in the brands existence were print ads that appealed to consumers emotions through the image
of men running and the slogan There is no finish line. In this example, Nike clearly had a
target audience that they were trying to sell to which was athletes, and more specifically runners.
The slogan created an emotional connection between runners and their sport because it hinted at
the idea that athletes never truly stop working toward their goal and that instead they are
constantly improving and getting better at what they do. By sending this message to runners,
Nike got the attention of runners and more mental connections were made between the stimuli
and the perception of the consumer. The more connections that people make with a stimuli, and

Running Head: The Effect of Rhetoric on Consumer Psychology

the more involved consumers are with what they are viewing, the easier it becomes to recall,
recollect, and recognize brands and their products.
Due to the widespread familiarity of the Nike symbol and brand in modern society, when
a stimulus that is related to a brand (such as the phrase Just Do It, or the swoosh) is present,
people who are aware of the brands popularity will automatically recall previously viewed
advertisements, recollect information on the product, and recognize the product itself without
having to be informed of what they are looking at. This is a result of the Nike slogan and logo
being a universal piece of rhetoric. In regards to the Nike logo, the swoosh, according to
Goldman and Papson, Nikes swoosh is a commercial symbol that has come to stand for athletic
excellence, a spirit of determination, hip authenticity, and playful self-awareness (1). In regards
to the companys current slogan, Goldman and Papson claim that Nikes slogan Just Do It is
cemented in consumers minds as a rallying cry to get off the couch and play sports (19). People
are widely familiar with these easily recognizable aspects of Nike because of the simplicity of
the rhetoric, and the repetition of the logo and slogan in advertisements.
According to an article published by Fortune in 2012, Nikes sales reached $21 billion
making it the world's largest sports company (Cendrowski, Nikes New Marketing Mojo). As
the largest sports company in the world, the most valuable sports business brand as of 2014
(Ozanian, The Forbes Fab 40), and as a manufacturer of other products as well, Nike products
can be found virtually everywhere. From clothes such as t-shirts and pants to objects such as
balls or wallets, Nike has certainly expanded their brand from their original product line of just
selling shoes. With Nike being a much bigger manufacturer than it was in the past, their products
are advertised more, not just by television commercials or pictures in papers, but by what clothes
people wear and what objects people use. Along with this, Nike now has the ability to sponsor

Running Head: The Effect of Rhetoric on Consumer Psychology

athletes that many people idolize or see as being iconic. By sponsoring big name athletes, Nike
has created an even greater exposure of their brand and an association between being a superstar
athlete to wearing Nike apparel has been planted in the minds of consumers leaving consumers
to believe that they too can be like the sponsored athletes that they see in advertisements if they
wear Nike apparel. People tend to hold this belief because as Raymond Bauer explained in
Psychology in Media Strategy, those who seem more credible, competent, and trustworthy (in
this case figurehead athletes) tend to be more effective in sending a message than those who do
not seem to have these features (37).
The use of repetition in advertising through the constant exposure of logos and slogan
along with the brand image of Nike that is promoted through commercials with popular athletes
and aesthetically pleasing objects warrants viewers desire to purchase or avoid Nike products. As
stated by Walter Weiss in Psychology in Media Strategy, ...operationally and theoretically,
repetition is a central aspect of advertising campaigns (59). This is a central aspect of
advertising campaigns because companies are attempting to familiarize viewers with the
information that they want viewers to retain. According to Sutherland and Sylvester in
Advertising and the Mind of the Consumer, after viewing advertisements of a brand or message
for some time, viewers naturally build a positive or negative perception of the stimulus due to a
small change in perception after each viewing (The positive or negative changes in perception
that people develop about a product begins to shape whether or not they want the product.
However, over time this inclination to purchase or avoid a product becomes large enough to
affect our purchasing decisions as consumers. We only consciously notice these changes half of
the time because of how small and irrelevant they seem at the time of exposure to a stimuli.

Running Head: The Effect of Rhetoric on Consumer Psychology

In the past, the brand Nike is commonly seen as a brand that promotes the idea of high
performance and hard work. Today, this still carries true but many of their advertisements that
are shown on television and other forms of media also consist of messages of motivation,
accomplishment, and spontaneity. This is in part due to the fact that Nike has begun spending
more money on nontraditional advertising since 2010 when Nike spent an estimate of $800
million on what advertisements such as social media and phone applications (Cendrowski).
Today with new forms of media, and new forms of technology there are so many more modes of
advertisement that companies can invest in such as social media. By investing more money in
social media, Nike has been able to appeal to a younger demographic of individuals since todays
youth tend to use social media and new technologies more than any other demographic.
When considering buying a product, people tend to imagine themselves in the shoes of
the advertiser. This means that they will oftentimes picture themselves performing the activities
shown in advertisements. High involvement when viewing an advertisement for a brand would
be having a connection between the product and oneself. For example, someone who is an
athlete, runner, or fitness enthusiast would have a higher level of involvement when viewing a
Nike sports commercial than someone who does not participate in athletics or fitness based
activities. Nikes commercials have been becoming more inclusive over the years and have
turned more toward motivation as their advertising technique. Their slogan Just Do It along
with normal people promoting their brand in commercials has made their product more popular
to the general public.
Originally, Nike focused on appealing to the audience of athletic men through print ads
that depicted only men. However, over the years, they have become more inclusive in their
advertisements in an attempt to expand their sales demographic. This started with the airing of

Running Head: The Effect of Rhetoric on Consumer Psychology

the commercial named If You Let Me Play which aired in 1995 that focused on adding women
to Nikes intended demographic. The advertisement consisted of women stating positive
outcomes that would take place if they were allowed to play sports. Along with this Nike
changed their advertising strategy around the year 2000 to incorporate more humor than focus on
athletes through advertisements such as the Y2K commercial in which a man wakes up after
New Years for a morning run to find the world in a state of chaos. More recently Nike has been
attempting to use a mixture of these two advertisement examples in order to gain support from
the widest demographic of people.
What distinguishes Nike from other competing brands such as Under Armour or Adidas,
is the use of a distinct, memorable, and well-known slogan and logo that has been used for
decades. The slogan Just Do It can be easily identified by most individuals today as being
affiliated with the brand Nike. "It [Just Do It] caught on because it was short, simple, easily
understood and remembered and to the point a little bold and confident, like many of the
Nike athletes at the time" (Martin, After 25 Years). Along with this, Nike has been quite
successful in the past decade or so in getting figurehead athletes to endorse their products. By
using figurehead athletes, such as Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Serena Williams,
etc., peoples perception of the brand has only been becoming more positive in the eyes of
athletes. This is because these athletes were known for being at the top of their sport and being
the best player in their sport at some point in time. Nikes use of heroes and athletic
superstars in advertisements aim to have viewers identify with these athletes, while other Nike
commercials that focus on the brand Nike itself and the product they are trying to sell focus on
the idea that there is a community of individuals who just like to play for the love of the game
rather than for record performances or celebrity status (Goldman and Papson 46). Small effects

Running Head: The Effect of Rhetoric on Consumer Psychology

of advertising such as this oftentimes influence the decisions in which brands we choose when
choosing between similar products (Sutherland and Sylvester 6).
Although Nikes advertising and marketing techniques may lose potential customers
because of the intended audience of their commercials being athletes, or physically active
people, viewers of Nike advertisements normally have a positive perception of the brand due to
the repetition of motivational concepts, repeated viewing of the logo, and endorsements by
figurehead athletes. Through their use of rhetoric in aspects of their brand such as name, logo
and, slogan, Nike creates a positive outlook because of motivational tactics and symbolism.
Along with this, the worldwide scale on which the brand is known allows people to recall,
recollect, and recognize Nike products themselves without having to be explicitly told what they
are looking at which allows consumers to come up with their own opinions of the brand. These
opinions are generally positive because if there is widespread support of a product, then people
will not go against the widely accepted notion that the product is inherently good. Also, by
expanding their demographic in more recent years by using humor and emotional appeal in
advertisements, Nike has made it extremely difficult for people to not find their brand somewhat
relatable and likeable.

Running Head: The Effect of Rhetoric on Consumer Psychology

Works Cited
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2015.
Goldman, Robert, and Stephen Papson. Nike Culture: The Sign of the Swoosh. London: Sage
Publications, 1998. Print.
Herrick, James A. The History and Theory of Rhetoric. 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001.
Print.
Martin, Jeffrey. "After 25 Years, 'Just Do It' Remains Iconic Tagline." Usatoday.com. USA
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Mitchell, Andrew A. Advertising Exposure, Memory, and Choice. Hillsdale, NJ: L. Erlbaum,
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"Nike." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.
Ozanian, Mike. "The Forbes Fab 40: The World's Most Valuable Sports Brands 2014." Forbes.
Forbes, Inc., 7 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.
Sutherland, Max, and Alice K. Sylvester. Advertising and the Mind of the Consumer: What
Works, What Doesn't, and Why. St. Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2000. Print.