Do you HATE running? Really??

Nike’s marketing this summer has caused some upset . Powerful sloganeering, of course, isn’t anything new to everyone familiar with the brand. (Literally everyone.)

I say the following from the point of view of a professional writer who thinks about words most of the time that I’m awake (and often while I’m asleep as well).

As such, it was interesting to see Strava joining in last week with a similar message in a similar color scheme (yes, they were orange first). The concern was that this messaging goes against the gentler, more inclusive messaging that most competitors used.

This kind of binary, polemic marketing is intended to forcefully polarize a conversation in order to cause shock, and then conversation around a brand. Here we are. You see? But just like my favorite jokes are based on a ridiculous element of truth, my favorite slogans have an exaggerated view on reality.

Here’s my hot take: you don’t actually hate anything, and you probably don’t actually love running either.

When I came back from injury this past April, those first few runs sucked. Did I hate it? No! I somewhat disliked how difficult it was, but I knew that was part of the process of improving. I don’t mind leaning into the idea of doing difficult things to make life easier. It’s the idea of building resilience and confidence by proving to yourself that you’re capable of doing something. It’s the idea of practicing an instrument as preparation, so that I can fly through an exam, performance, or race with greater ease .

If, like me (and the vast majority of runners), you’re running for your health, do you love it? I don’t. I love my dog (very deeply — she’s the best), and I like the things that running gives me. I like that it provides fitness, friendships, a meditative space to think, but I don’t love the act of running itself. I do it because of those other things. I’d be sad if I had to stop running, but I’d be perfectly ok taking up walking, swimming, cycling, etc, instead. My priority is exercising for my health.

The question is whether the onus on understanding that these are overly dramatic slogans designed — yes, designed — to generate an emotional response to direct you towards buying something should be on the consumer. The question is whether the emotions of someone who doesn’t naturally dissect the messaging like I do, perhaps, are being fully respected.

Do we need or want a world where everything is as attention-grabbing as possible? We’re already in a newly-digital world where marketing messaging dominates our lives in a way that was completely unimaginable even 30 years ago.

Personally, I care more about if the company is building water wells in Africa, what hopefully-recyclable foam is in the shoes’ midsole, whether the t-shirt is made of soft cotton or scratchy cotton, if my next pair of white sneakers is going to lean into tennis-core or if I’m going to lead the charge with a pair of Hi-Tec Green Flash squash shoes.