Iconography of the U.S.

“There are a number of different frameworks through which we can map out the complex ways in which popular culture is produced and in which it travels globally” (PL, p. 407). One framework in particular that popular cultural produced in order to travel globally is the Nike swoosh symbol. The Icon that I chose for this assignment was the Nike swoosh symbol. The Nike swoosh is a corporate trademark created in 1971 by Carolyn Davidson, while she was a graphic design student at Portland State University for only $35.00 and 500 company shares at the time.

Nike has become the second most universally recognized logo in the entire world after Coca-Cola. This is due to the fact that it is the symbol for so many different athletic products in multiple categories of sports. Since the brand it’s self is so popular, the marketing budget has increased immensely since 1971 when the symbol was made, allowing the marketing department to create an awareness for the symbol in various other countries. The Nike symbol is also strengthened by all the endorsements from multiple famous athletes throughout the years. Finally, the fact that the Nike symbol is so simple and distinctive, it is so much more easily recognized throughout the world. There never has to be an issue of an individual from another country having a language barrier because there is no words used. This is a great asset for the company because people can recognize pictures a lot faster than they can remember a phrase or name.

Although Nike was created in Portland Oregon, it is an enormous attraction globally as well. People around the world all share a similar connection to athletics in one way or another. Although different cultures may not always have the same sports preferences, Nike has athletic wear for all, including those who don’t even like competitive sports and would prefer brisk walking, or just the comfort of the clothes in general. So far, Nike has been extremely successful globally. Still to this day the Nike, Inc. Headquarters are located in Beaverton, Oregon but Nike has over 700 factories worldwide, in 41 countires, with 363 retail stores in the USA and 393 internationally. In 2011, Nikes sales in the United States alone made up 36% of its revenue while 51% came from International sales and 13% came from other business. (Nike 2011 Shareholder Letter) This number has been constantly been growing in a positive direction since then and Nike factories are spread out amongst various places such as Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Japan, Italy, Mexico, Canada, and many other places in order to make purchasing even easier.

The cultural and United States response to this usage held both negative and positive connotations. Especially in the 1990’s, Nike was known to have products become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime, and arbitrary abuse. One columnist in the New York Times said, “Nike represents not only everything that’s wrong with sports but everything that’s wrong with the world.” Since then, Nike has worked hard to change their brand image and create more positive connotations with the brand and its symbolism. Opposed to this, many people believed that Nike portrayed a positive symbol about what it means to be a true athlete through hard work, perseverance, physical and mental strength, and dedication. As mentioned above, Nike also develops positive connotations in both the U.S. and abroad by having various different reputable athletes endorsed through their company. These athletes are always viewed as positive role models, and are from all around the world to help everyone feel like they are being represented and there is no form of discrimination.

I don’t believe there is a more culturally relative icon to use in place of the U.S icon. The Nike Swoosh symbol is basically a check mark, which holds positive connotations and emphasizes the idea of success. Also, it is black which is a very neutral color and does not make customers question the color choice they used. Finally, the symbol is also associated with their old slogan, “Just do it.” This slogan might be a little forceful but it explains to readers that if they put their mind to anything and get over any fears that they might have, than they will be able to go out there and “just do it” or preform any task they set out to succeed in.

The thinker from the PL reading that best fits the assignment is Arjun Appadurai. Arjun Appandurai is an anthropologist who focuses his studies on contemporary social-cultural issues in globalization. In one of his works entitled, ‘Disjuncture and Difference in Global Cultural Economy’, Appadurai describes that the “new global cultural economy has to be seen as a complex, overlapping, disjunctive order. This order is composed of different interrelated, yet disjunctive global cultural flows.” One of these flows he speaks about is a mediascape. A mediascape is the electronic and print media in “global cultural flows”. This would be seen as the print media Nike uses to get their message across to other countries in order to expand their target market.

I learned from doing this assignment all about the Nike Corporation, as well as how to think from outside my cultural boundaries to the attitudes, beliefs and values of a different culture. I had to take everyone’s perspective into consideration especially when answering the question regarding the cultural and local opinion on if the brand was negatively perceived or positively. It also encouraged me to do some background research to see what the views were like in the past, and what Nike has done to change the negative connotations since then.