A video about Nike, the sports equipment and clothing manufacturer, produced by Josh Conley, a student at Iowa University:

A student's response.

  1. What is the context in which the message was produced?

    This video appeared on YouTube, which has a general audience of Internet users. Upon further research, I found it was made for a university course at the University of Iowa. So, his first audience was his professor, but because he uploaded it, he obviously wanted a larger audience. He has also set up a link where people can download the movie, so he must want lots of people to see it. Because it is just on the Internet, it would be available only to people with Internet connections.

  2. What is the message of this video clip?

    The message is that Nike hires people in the developing world to make their products and does not pay them an adequate wage.

  3. What is the subject of the presentation?

    The subject is Nike and its employees.

  4. What techniques are being used in this presentation?

    language use—He plays on the Nike format, using words such as sacrifice, endurance, and determination.

    type of shot —still shots, some close ups of faces, including extreme close-ups of a black sweating forehead, again playing on the Nike format and longer shots of workers

    editing —fast cuts back and forth between the orange slides with words and the images of the exploited worker

    colour —orange, just as Nike uses

    music —rap music, which is angry and uses some lyrics to describe how undervalued the workers are; could be Emminem(?)

    references: It's in the style of the ads Nike uses on TV and on their website which makes the presentation ironic.

  5. What perspective or worldview is being presented?

    It's the worldview of a person from the Western industrialized world who does not believe people in the developing world should be exploited by a transnational corporation. The perspective of Nike owners, who obviously believe in what they are doing, is not shown. Also, although he is trying to speak in defence of the Nike workers, he does not provide their perspective because he is not one of them.

  6. Are evidence or statistics used to back up the ideas?

    He says the workers get paid $1.60 a day and work seven days a week, 12 hours a day, but he does not identify where he got that information.

  7. What tone or attitude is presented towards the subject?

    Angry. I say that because of the music, which gets louder as the clip plays, and the images of poor people working in sweatshops, and the words both in the song and in the text.

  8. Is there an underlying message behind the piece?

    He's just coming right out and saying that he believes Nike exploits its workers. There might be an underlying message in the irony of the piece, in that many of us in the developed world buy into Nike ads that tell us it is good to have determination and endurance to survive, but really, we're working out for fun and fitness whereas the people who create the products we use to entertain ourselves are truly suffering just to make us products we do not really need. That could be my own perspective though!

  9. Where can I find out more?

    I found many websites that talk about how Nike uses sweatshops to produce its goods and exploit workers. An example is http://www.educatingforjustice.org/stopnikesweatshops.htm

  10. Is this presentation useful in furthering your understanding about globalization?

    Yes. Although lots of techniques of persuasion were used, I think it helped me think about the workers who make products I use. Usually, I just think about prices and what I want—not equality, justice, or the impact of my actions on the people who make these products.