"Never again until next year" is Nike's latest face plant

Was it a Holocaust joke? Or just an idiotic tone deaf ad at the end of the London Marathon? Either way, a better apology than the one offered up is in order.

At the end of the prestigious London Marathon yesterday, Nike ran a billboard with the slogan “Never again . . . until next year.”

Yes, I understand that people often joke at the end of a marathon that they will never do it again, then change their minds moments later from the high of finishing. Kind of like having a baby.

But didn’t anyone at Nike know that the phrase “Never Again” is a phrase associated with the Holocaust and represents a vow to prevent such atrocities from ever happening again?

So perhaps a few days after Yom HaShoah — Holocaust Memorial Day — was not the best time for a Holocaust “joke.” If there is ever a good time to compare the exhaustion of completing a marathon with the murder of six million Jews.

This “misstep” occurred while the world is still dealing with the aftermath of October 7th and ongoing pro-Palestinian protests around the world, including in London’s streets during the marathon.

Look, I’ll grant that whatever mid-level marketer decided to run this tone deaf, ridiculous billboard did not do so as an act of anti-semitism or a secret stick it to the Jews message.

But maybe Nike should consider employing just one young person with some cultural acuity and some reasonable knowledge of history. A shallow working knowledge would be sufficient.

If you work for a giant brand like Nike that is known for it’s elevating and unifying marketing, it’s your job to lift people up without pissing anyone off. Or without pissing a lot of people off. And they are failing at this these days.

Nike thinks of itself as edgy. And they are. Sometimes. But inadvertently mocking the deaths of 6 million Jews kind of crosses over from “edgy” to really stupid.

Even Bill Ackman — Nike investor and prominent hedge fund manager — got in on the criticizing Nike action with this Tweet: “Never Again is as iconic a phrase as Just Do It. Nike should know better.”

In a statement today to journalist Louis Keene at The Forward (an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience), Nike apologized, saying: “We did not mean any harm and apologize for any we caused.”

But then sort of excused themselves by saying well runners say this.

This is nothing short of another shit show for Nike, which cannot seem to get its footing of late.

My summary:

• Nike is clueless and the new CEO Elliott Hill clearly has his work cut out for him.

• Tone-deaf, under-educated woke-sters have taken over. Did not a single person who reviewed this creative not think — maybe not a good reference right now? Did they not know the reference? Did they know and not care? None of these are good.

• Elliott needs to offer up more than that mealy-mouthed apology. And he should have offered it to a broader reaching publication. He needs to do the shows and apologize. From his mouth, not the organization. If you want to be forgiven, apologize.

• I’m still exponentially more disturbed by the medical experiment Nike seems to have funded to understand how much physical impairment of boys is needed to allow them to viably compete with girls. Why doesn’t Bill Ackman care about that?

The mistakes do seem to all go in one direction. Towards woke-ness. Against decency. Against messaging to the highest common denominator and that which appeals to the most people.

Which really does make one wonder how much of a mistake it really was.