Regardless of what you might think of the company, I think Nike had some of the best magazine advertising ever. Here's two of my all time favorites (and more here: http://www.katiekleinman.com/nike/nike.php) (and especially love the last two lines of the second one):
Beatrice Brophy, 72, and Barbara Anderson, 74
canoeists and guides in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota
YOU ARE OLDER, IT SEEMS, THAN SOME PEOPLE,
AND SO THEY CALL YOU OLD.
OLD, OLD, OLD. YOU HAVE WRINKLES YOU DO NOT COVER
AND YOUR HAIR IS GRAY AND YOU HAVE LIVED
FOR SOMETHING LIKE SEVENTY-FOUR YEARS ON THIS EARTH.
WITHOUT MUCH COMPLAINT.
there is nothing much to complain about.
BUT SOME PEOPLE LOOK AT YOU AND THINK YOU SHOULD
STOP NOW, REST NOW, GROW OLD NOW, GRACEFULLY.
BUT YOU LIVE GRACEFULLY ENOUGH YOU DON'T HAVE TIME
TO GROW OLD.
YOU HAVE A CANOE.
AND THAT CANOE HAS A RIVER.
AND THAT RIVER DOES NOT END.
and you watch the river flow and watch it flow
AND WATCH THE LEAVES CHANGE COLOR
AND WATCH YOUR HANDS TURN EIGHTY YEARS OLD
IN THE MIDDLE OF A RIVER BEND.
YOU HIKE THIRTEEN MILES AT THE END OF THE DAY
AND THIS IS HOW YOU REST, THAT IS HOW YOU REST.
SO LET THE YOUNG ONES SLEEP. LET THE WHOLE WORLD SLEEP.
YOU WILL SLEEP WHEN YOU HAVE TO.
YOU ARE CROSSING THE WATER, CROSSING THE WATER,
AND THERE IS SO MUCH WATER LEFT TO BE CROSSED.
and
94-year-old swimmers.
89-year-old weightlifters.
99-year-old marathoners.
The back of SI is full of them.
People who forgot to retire.
And never got old.
People who realized:
It's easier to keep going
If you never stop.
JUST DO IT.
Get up. Get out.
Build up the muscle.
Get rid of the flab.
Go back to school.
Sell the TV.
JUST DO IT.
Master the curveball.
Pound the bag.
Rebuild an engine.
Jump-start a career.
JUST DO IT.
Bench press four big plates.
Dig for fossils.
Bicycle across Canada.
Save an endangered species – yourself.
JUST DO IT.
The only one who can tell you you can't, is you.
And you don't have to listen.
