Nike’s WNBA Ad Fouls Out

Nike found it hard to assemble WNBA players for a commercial shoot. So it used life-size cut-outs of them in a series of commercials promoting Nike and the professional women’s basketball league. An unfortunate decision. In the spots, created by Wieden & Kennedy--Portland, Ore., an obsessive male fan treats the cutouts as if they are real. He feeds them pizza, buys them fruit--even joins them in a hot tub. This guy isn’t merely weird; he’s mean. He pinches a kid, smart-mouths a cop and blames the mess he makes inside a grocery store on a little boy. It’s scary to imagine what this guy might do when he really loses it. $