During the Oscars premiere, Serena Williams was featured in a new Nike ad titled, “Dream Crazier.” This ad calls out the standards women are expected to uphold while they are competing in sports.
While clips are shown of women athletes who are currently paving the way for women in the world of sports, Serena Williams narrates stating, “If we show emotion, we’re called dramatic. If we want to play against men, we’re nuts. And if we dream of equal opportunity, we’re delusional. When we stand for something, we’re unhinged. When we’re too good, there’s something wrong with us. And if we get angry, we’re hysterical, irrational, or just being crazy.”
This ad features not only women athletes but also women coaches who are showing emotions during intense sports moments. This emphasizes how women are being judged, criticized for how they conduct themselves during sporting events, whereas men are hardly ever held responsible for their own actions when they are “in the heat of the game.”
The ad ends on an empowering note with Williams saying, “Show them what crazy can do.”
Personally, I love Nike and it’s controversial ads, but this ad in particular is my favorite because it holds relevant to so many women. It presents a prominent issue that has been plaguing women in sports from the very start.
As a women athlete, I have had experiences where being a girl in a sport was frowned upon, even though I wasn’t even playing a typical “boys sport.” When I was playing basketball as a sophomore in high school, grown men decided to tell my teammates and I to leave basketball for “the boys.” These men in part fuel the discrimination of women and girls in sports which is a universal issue for women no matter their age.
The small sheltered town I grew up in did not think that girls sports were as important as boy sports. There were countless travel baseball, basketball and even wrestling teams offered for the male athletes in the surrounding towns. However, to find a single travel league for girls at a competitive level you would have to drive at least two hours away.
Similar to my experience, the Nike ad points out countless examples of discrimination women athletes are subject to such as: wearing a hijab, looking too manly, or even playing “rough sports” like football.
Now, these are just some common instances where women are being put down in their own sport. In reality however, there are so many other instances of discrimination as well. This commercial gives girls hope that them playing sports, lifting weights, and being active is not frowned upon, and that no matter what people may say, it can never be taken away from them.