themanontherun wrote:The hobby joggers are driven by ego in that they want to feel like the faster runners; they think that if they buy the gear and post enough selfies demonstrating their presence on the course, they will be perceived in a hardcore way.
The hobby joggers want to be something they're not, and the faster runners want to feel superior.
I'm a fat slow hobby jogger. I've done a handful of marathons. I don't have any stickers. I've never posted a selfie. I've never given a thought to how I am perceived. I just want to run the race. It never occurred to me that I could be perceived as hardcore.
The real faster runners I know don't care about feeling superior, they just like running and racing. Many of those who are not super fast but better than average take great pride in being faster than most of us.
I do want to be something I'm not. I'd like to be faster. But I do understand my place.
I like that ad because it's appealing not to people who want to be something they're not but rather to those in the back of the pack who know they're in the back of the pack. Although I have to say, as someone who has done the back of the pack death march and seen others around me, the people in the ad look like people pretending to be doing the death march. They have a little too much bounce left in their fake shuffling.
btw, I don't wear Nike.
I also liked this famous ad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JnYcuRW_qo