Creative Salon Loves... Nike's Super Bowl Statement And Its Commitment To Women's Sport

I’ve always loved sport. Yes, it stresses me out, can be the be-all or end-all of my mood across any given week, but I love it regardless. 

As a woman, that's never been easy to navigate. Because growing up I was always the only girl on my team. I was always the one forced to wear pink. I had no role models who looked like me. 

Back then, no platform was seemingly big enough for women to shine, thankfully that’s starting to change; in 2023 the Women’s World Cup Final was the most watched sporting event on TV in the UK with 38.4 million views, and the Women’s Six Nations TikTok account saw an annual increase of 586 per cent. 

Nike is a brand aiming to jump over the hurdles of misogyny and did so on arguably one of the biggest sporting stages: the Super Bowl. 

The ad - ‘So Win’ - is its first Super Bowl slot in 27 years that sees women being celebrated and empowered in a way that each watch gives me goosebumps as much as the first time. 

The minute-long clip features some of sport’s current iconic female athletes from the likes of Caitlin Clark, Jordan Chiles, Sha’Carri Richardson and Aryna Sabalenka, and is narrated by Grammy award-winning rapper Doechii.

Championing the ‘So Win’ message throughout, the ad highlights the barriers women in sport face from comparisons about their looks to the never-ending list of stereotypes thrown their way. 

All too often sportswomen feature in content where they’re just a staple piece of diversity, a 'tick in a box' attempt at feigning interest in whatever it is they do. But work like Nike’s is helping change that narrative for the better.  

It only takes looking at the comments on the ad posted to Nike’s YouTube to get a flavour of the rife misogyny putting women on a sporting stage receives: “Society still hasn’t figured out what a woman is yet”, “I cringed so hard it made diamonds”, “Are we still doing this in 2025?”.

I’m not even remotely surprised. Because putting women front and centre inevitably is accompanied by rage bait by people (often men) thinking they’re being funny. But they’re not. It’s degrading. And, quite frankly, embarrassing. 

Not enough brands have the bravery to do it - the backlash isn’t worth the reward. Or maybe they just don’t care enough. 

Bill Maher, an American TV host and comedian, slammed the ad on his talkshow: “When was the last time a woman was told: ‘You can’t do this, you can’t be confident’? Who are these imaginary mean old men of the patriarchy?” 

I could go on forever about the problematic ironies in those questions alone. Women, let’s roll our eyes in unity. Not in surprised unity, but in tired unity. 

Nike’s ad is a love letter to women in sport. An emancipation for young girls forced to wear pink, looking for role models, a spur of inspiration for those searching for motivation to carry on. 

“You can’t fill a stadium, so fill that stadium. You can’t be emotional, so be emotional. You can’t take credit. You can’t speak up. You can’t be so ambitious. Break records,” the narrative says. 

As the popularity in women’s sport continues to grow, brand support needs to match that. It needs to be consistent so that content reaches rising audience numbers. Nike is a brand playing its part in this evolution, with an unashamed want to empower its female athletes and setting an example for the industry. 

Brands, do more. You’ll inevitably cause a commotion, but just do it, anyway.