If you go into a room with 100 people and ask them “How many of you jog?” you will probably have a full room of raised hands. For this page on Panther Press I will explain how one of the prominent sport equipment manufacturer in the world, Nike - which was formerly Blue Ribbon Sports- , popularized jogging.
As television channels started covering popular sports like soccer and basketball, the brand got more popular. Nike having more money would start marketing more, and all the marketing they did encouraged both purchasing their product and exercising. Kids or adults woulds look up to legends in their respective sports and these athletes would be wearing the very famous “swoosh” in their sneakers. Michael Jordan, for instance, using his Air Jordan’s.
Before Nike, jogging was already a popular sport for kids, but this sport definitely wasn't the massive piece of modern culture it is today. Most people jog and that is mostly due to Nike’s efforts on motivating generations of people to exercise more. Nike co-founder, Bill Bowerman, wrote a book called “Jogging” and that is what helped popularize jogging the most. The book talks about the benefits of jogging and what it basically does to your body, such as making your bones stronger, strengthen muscles, it improves cardiovascular health, and helps maintaining a healthy weight.
“I think it’s a two way road, because as Nike made the sport more popular they were efficient enough to make people believe that wearing their shoes would make them jog better, so Nike became a necessity. Jogging is a very democratic sport, meaning that everyone can basically get a pair of shoes and jog anywhere without needing a field or a track. I believe it was the smartest move the brand could make, and yes, it was beneficial to people at the same time, making them motivated to engage in sports” says Mr Bernardo Pedro, US P.E. teacher.
Photo: www.bbc.com
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