Nike: The Mythology Of Business

Mythology of Business

At first glance, it is hard to see any kind of connection between modern day advertising and the classic tales from the past, known as myths. But upon further investigation it became apparent to me that although they may not always share a direct link, they do always share similarities in their structure, content and most importantly function.

In order to see the connections that myths and advertising have, we must first have a complete understanding of what myths are and the roles that they play in our lives today. When asking someone what a myth is they will generally give you a pretty generic explanation about them being stories from the past involving heroes or some kind of social phenomenon. However, myths are much

Once you are able to discover the underlining message, you will then be able to connect it to the myth that is being referenced.

When you hear the word Nike what do you think of? Most associate this word with the infamous sportswear company that was founded on January 25, 1964. The founder of Nike, Phil Knight, chose the name purposely for the association it has with the winged Greek goddess of victory. In fact, everything about the company can be related back to the Greek goddess Nike, from its name, to its logo right down to the message that it is trying to promote.

In mythology, Nike is best known as the Greek goddess of victory. She is known for her success in both sport and battle, presiding over history’s earliest battlefields and was often referred to by the Romans as Victoria (meaning victory). Although she was a triumphing goddess she does not have a mythological story of her own. Instead she is most often seen in the presence of other gods and goddesses such as Zeus (in the Great War against Typhon for control of Olympus) and Athena (the goddess of war and strategy). Although she does not have an extravagant story of her own, her legend still lives

The use of myths in modern advertising is one of the most effective tools in speaking to a population’s subconscious and generating the image and emotion that they wish to create. This is easily done because a vast amount of knowledge about mythology is not needed to understand the messages that advertisers and trying to send, this is because these stories are so often integrated into media that in a sense it is burned into our brains, thus making us more susceptible to these persuasive