Even a nervous system nuked by meth abuse, Trichinella spiralis, and head trauma still responds to the stimulus “Just Do It.” Like margarine on a Thomas’ English muffin, the marketing campaign has penetrated every nook and cranny of the global economy. Male Trobriand Islanders now have the slogan tattooed on their nuts at age 13 as a rite of passage. No one is innocent.Though the words sound like an invitation to libertinism along the lines of “Do what thou Wilt shall be the whole of the Law,” Nike’s ads make it clear that the slogan doesn’t mean enjoying sex, drugs, music, or ultraviolence. It means cold dominating in the wholesome athletic endeavor of your choice: “Just Kick It,” “Just Bounce It.” A study of the ad campaign by the management consulting firm Center for Applied Research recounts Nike’s own folk tale about the slogan’s origin. According to the company’s story, the slogan “was coined at a 1988 meeting of Nike’s ad agency, Wieden + Kennedy, and a group of Nike employees. Dan Wieden, speaking admiringly of Nike’s can-do attitude, reportedly said, "You Nike guys, you just do it.”
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“Do It” originally came out as the B-side of the Pink Fairies’ first single, “The Snake.” The Pink Fairies, comrades of Hawkwind, were so fucked up they could barely see. They placed zero value on success. During the summer of 1970, the band played outside the Isle of Wight festival in protest of things that cost money, and at the free Phun City fest they got naked onstage. “The Snake” b/w “Do It” was released in 1971, the same year graphic designer Carolyn Davidson created the “swoosh” logo that she sold to Nike for $35.