Abstract

This thesis examines Nike's women-directed advertising in the 1990s. The emphasis is placed on determining how Nike advertising reached such great levels of popularity, and why they resonated so deeply with female consumers. Considered in light of contemporary theories of rhetoric and feminism, it is demonstrated that the ads are invested with meaning and importance because they answer concerns about identity, representation, self-definition, agency and a sense of meaninglessness that preoccupy the modern citizen. Using magazine ads drawn almost exclusively from the periodicals Runner's World and Mademoiselle , this study demonstrates that it is through the rhetorical figures of the body and Nike's corporate image that these concerns are addressed, enacted, and articulated. In this way, Nike ads "work" to appeal to the female consumer. This reading of Nike ads merges interests in feminism, theories of rhetoric, visuality and very simply, how things become important.