Later this month, Reebok will launch a new global campaign it says will celebrate individuality and authenticity and will include the tagline, “I Am What I Am.” While we wonder what Popeye and King Features will think of this, we also wonder if a better tagline might have been, “Fuck It. Why Should I Bother To Be Anything More Than I Am.”
Created by New York advertising agency mcgarrybowen, “I Am What I Am” launches globally this month on TV, cinema, print and on billboards in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, London and Tokyo. The television spots debut during the NBA All-Star Game on February 20, 2005, and the print ads hit in March publications.
The campaign encourages young people to embrace their own individuality by celebrating their contemporary heroes including: music icons Jay-Z and 50 Cent; top athletes Allen Iverson, Andy Roddick, Kelly Holmes, and Yao Ming; screen star Lucy Liu, skateboarder Stevie Williams, and soccer star Iker Casillas. Or perhaps it just says, hey, it’s ok if you’re fat, ugly, lazy, dumb, unlucky, divorced, fired, a loser, have cancer, sterile, poor and stuck in suburbia driving kids to soccer games every thirteen seconds.
This spring, to further support the movement to celebrate authenticity, Reebok will launch an online forum on their website where consumers will have the opportunity to create their own “I Am What I Am” ads or nominate someone who they feel truly embodies the campaign message. That ought to be fun.
