We Need to Talk About the Weird Nike Stick Horse Ad

I must have Olympic Fever because I was really getting into Women’s Track and Field yesterday!

Then, during a commercial break, my sanity was nearly shattered by what I would later find out was a Nike ad.

Here’s the spot I’m talking about. Nike hasn’t posted it yet so you have to go to this website to see it.

If there’s a problem with that video or maybe you don’t like clicking on videos, here’s the essence:

The commercial posits a future where people riding on stick horses are competing in international competition, implicitly the Olympics. They’re running, prancing and jumping over obstacles but the most unbelievable part is that it shows an arena full of spectators! We all know that’s never going to happen again!

But, seriously, I can’t tell if this Nike ad is being earnest or if it’s satire. Is the message that ANYTHING can and should be considered a serious sport in the future?

Or is it slyly mocking some of the more ridiculous sports that are already IN? It’s an example of Poe’s Law at work. I honestly cannot tell if it’s serious or not.

As an added bit of surrealism, when I first saw the ad I was fast-forwarding through the commercials. I had to rewind because I actually thought this was a PETA ad making some kind of case against Equestrian events. Now THAT’s funny!

Lisa pointed out to me that there are actually already stick-horse enthusiasts (Finland seems to be the hotbed for some reason). But, judging from this video of a real stick-horse competition, it all seems to be a little tongue-in-cheek, even for the participants.

But even if this is some sly satire from Nike, they were still beat to the punch by an Australian gambling site, Sportsbet.au, all the way back in 2020. If you don’t at least smile at this video, you’re broken inside.

Damn it. I would watch every single one of these