Nike launched “Just Do It” as its marketing tagline in 1988. The TV ads featured, among other athletes, 80-year-old runner Walt Stack putting in one of his daily 17 miles on the Golden Gate Bridge:
…and these kids skating and playing ball:
But apparently “Just Do It” is too brief, direct, and imperative for a new generation that makes every sentence sound like a question. Nike is upspeaking its successful tagline into a shrugging question: Why Do It?
Note that “Just Do It” isn’t gone; Nike still punctuates its ad and its new, clever question with a hard cut to its clear-cut classic answer. Even Nike appears to recognize that its new slogan can’t be the final word.
Here’s how Nike’s people explain this questioning (and questionable) update:
“‘Just Do It’ isn’t just a slogan — it’s a spirit that lives in every heartbeat of sport. It’s the belief that, together, we can inspire, unite and elevate ourselves beyond what we thought possible,” says Nicole Graham, EVP & Chief Marketing Officer. “With ‘Why Do It?,’ we’re igniting that spark for a new generation, daring them to step forward with courage, trust in their own potential and discover the greatness that unfolds the moment they decide to begin.”
The “Why Do It?” campaign kicks off with a bold, cinematic anthem featuring a global cast of Nike athletes who embody the raw, unfiltered side of sport: Carlos Alcaraz, Saquon Barkley, LeBron James, Rayssa Leal, Qinwen Zheng and more.
The film’s striking message speaks directly to today’s athletes, who are growing up in a world where trying, and failing, can feel daunting; where taking a leap feels harder than ever; and where the temptation to quit is louder than any reason to keep going.
Against this backdrop, the film stands as a challenge to the hesitant generation: Greatness isn’t handed out, it’s chosen — and sometimes the most important choice is to simply begin [Nike, press release, 2025.09.04].
NPR’s A Martínez discussed this marketing move yesterday with Adweek’s Brittaney Kiefer:
KIEFER: …Nike’s speaking to young people. And they say that this generation is afraid of failure and, in some cases, they’re afraid to even try. So that’s why they need to subvert their slogan, which isn’t going away completely, but asking young people, why even do it in the first place?
MARTÍNEZ: So it used to be like – when I’d, you know, put on a new pair of shoes, a new pair of sneakers, it’d be like, I want to go out and conquer the world. Now the sneakers are just to get you out of bed.
KIEFER: (Laughter) Yeah, basically. Just take that first step, and that can lead to greatness.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. So just do it, I know it came out in 1988. That’s, like, kind of Gen Xers’ coming-out-of-age territory right there. And I’ll admit it kind of speaks to this no-nonsense, get your – get-over-yourself attitude. What does why do it tap into, you think?
KIEFER: Well, as the Nike CMO, Nicole Graham, told me, it’s tapping into – it’s kind of giving voice to a doubt that a lot of young people feel about whether they should even try to achieve anything. And really, it’s about redefining those three words for young people who may not get its relevance and its power in the same way as previous generations [A Martínez, “Nike’s Nearly 40-Year-Old Slogan Gets an Update,” NPR: Morning Edition, 2025.09.05].
Wrap a question around a video of strong sweaty athletes in super slo-mo and answer that question with a confident declaration of determination, and that question can serve as a platform to motivate action. But in the time you spend dwelling on your existential questions (is that the word? is there an adjective that encompasses not just being but doing, something like action-stential?), the other gal has laced up her shoes and run five blocks.
Nike’s just selling athletic wear. But they are also coaching, encouraging people to get up, to run and skate and play around, to do athletic things that require athletic shoes (and socks and swimsuits and sunglasses…). The right way to coach is not to pander to doubt but to dismiss it, destroy it, even, as Nike’s own ad does, to laugh at it. “Why Do It?” by itself does not coach. “Just Do It” does.
My own athletic endeavors are mostly solitary, biking and running. Ever since running around Lake Herman when I was in seventh grade, and ever since taking my first long bicycle rides around Lake County and Brookings County, I’ve not often asked myself why I do it. I just run. I just ride. The answers present themselves on the road.
Nike’s quest for relevance with a doubting generation loses that point. Those of us who seek something more than attention and market share don’t frame our endeavors around a question. We frame our endeavors around the answer.
Time for me to ride that bike.