London - It has become one of the most famous slogans in the world. But far from being inspired by the thought of some sporting challenge, Nike’s “Just do it” tag was based on the last words of a notorious killer.
The advertising executive who came up with the line revealed at a conference in Cape Town last month that he took the idea from what Gary Gilmore said as he was about to be executed.
Facing the firing squad in January 1977, Gilmore, who had been sentenced to death for robbing and murdering two men in Utah, was reported to have told his executioners: “Let’s do this.”
Dan Wieden says he remembered the line when 11 years later he had a marketing campaign meeting with Nike bosses and decided to suggest the slightly altered “Just do it” as a slogan.
At first, he says, the US sportswear company hated the idea. But he won them round and the slogan appeared at the end of an advert featuring 80-year-old runner Walt Stack. It went on to be described by Campaign magazine as “arguably the best tagline of the 20th century”. The slogan is still used today and is known across the world.
Wieden, co-founder of advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, told Dezeen magazine how his company had been hired by Nike in 1988 to help them counter rivals Reebok, who had just announced bigger profits.
He was worried that a planned series of five TV adverts lacked cohesion and felt they needed a tagline to tie them together. He thought of Gilmore’s last words but didn’t like the exact phrase. “So I just changed it to ‘Just do it’,” he said.
Gilmore, a career criminal, was sentenced to death in 1976. Spurning efforts to get his sentence commuted, he demanded to be shot by firing squad.
The 37-year-old was the first person to be executed in the US for a decade, following a legal moratorium. He requested his organs be donated for transplant.
Daily Mail