Hilarious! I haven't seen that commercial in ages and it brings up a great point. Maybe it's because Nike is a big evil corporation that pays sweatshop workers 25 cents a day (or whatever the hell it is).

Nice!

"Where, exactly, is the imaginary line that separates "funny" from "offensive"? Does anybody really know?"

There you hit the core of the question.

My wife does nonprofit fundraising (she directs a museum). One major donor of hers was a major Madison avenue ad exec, and she explained it to my wife like this:

TV-based ads have three sequential goals: 1) get you not to change channels, 2) get you to actually watch the ad instead of going to the bathroom or getting a snack, and 3) de-mute. That is because the main purpose of ads is to get the product name in your head. For the most part, they are not actually trying to sell you something, but instead, trying to keep name recognition there. Since for the vast majority of products you are choosing between A and B with all other things being equal, this is the single most important facet of advertising: just getting you to actually view the ad.

Consequently, one of the major tactics of advertising is to skirt the line between funny and offensive. In fact, many intentionally go past the line, because their research shows that they make more money that way.

That's why I think the entire Nike ad deal was actually manufactured. They WANTED it to play out like this, and their ad got far more views than it would have otherwise. Naturally, the indignation of the blogosphere plays right into that.

Dude!! That guy totally took the junk to the FACE! Where did this AIR?? Based on the "das ist lustig", I'm guessing Germany? No way this was played on American TV... right?

That is one of the funniest commercials I've ever seen!

ak dave -- No, that commercial did indeed air on American TV. I couldn't find the original on YouTube and had to use the one with the German text on the bottom. But I first saw it while watching NFL football a couple years back.

OH yeah- forgot to add- are we to understand that this is how Brazillians play basketball, Baguete?

this commercial is hilarious and always will be. I would never understand how anyone could consider the disgust a player might have while another player's sweaty man junk is all over his body to be offensive. I dont care WHO you are... you DO NOT want perspirated balls around your face.

and to think how it would be if a guy showed up naked to the gym... i wouldnt play with him.. i doubt anyone would...
would you??

ak dave: this is how we do EVERYTHING! The only time of the day when I put clothes (just underware actually) is when I cook, cuz I really dont like the taste of pubic hair in my food.

When we play naked sports we have the FRIENDLY DICKS (the guys on your team) and the ENEMY DICKS (the guys on the other team). You gotta avoid at all costs to touch on an enemy dick.

Touching friendly dicks is totally aceptable and sometimes leads to other things...

Well, that ended things with an uncomfortable silence....