On my way to teach this morning, I was surprised to see a black, wannabe MRAP in front of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium–known as the “Swamp” to Gator bait everywhere. I thought someone might have taken the mantra “in the swamp, only gators get out alive” a step too far, but it turns out it is part of a Nike Pro Combat promotion:
Pseudo-MRAP (Photo courtesy of Simone Nageon de Lestang)
Prepare for Combat (Photo courtesy of Simone Nageon de Lestang)
Behind the truck was a trailer that was a mobile retail space with the Florida’s new jersey and shirts emblazoned with the slogan “finish the mission.” Someone needs to send one of these to General McCrystal. Size ‘badass?’
"Finish the Mission" (Photo courtesy of Nike)
Personally, I find the comparison of sports to war in poor taste, but it is interesting to see the “finish the mission” slogan evoked when the debate on our policy in Aghanistan is still simmering. You can’t tell me that images such as these haven’t crept into advertisers’ minds.
