Controversial Advertisement

Oscar Pistorius- The Paralympic Gold Medalist

Oscar Pistorius was a Paralympics athlete, known as the “Blade Runner” in the 2012 London Olympics. The ad is believed to date back to 2011, but was re-emerged on the morning that the Paralympic gold medalist, had been charged with murder. The advertisement appeared on Oscar Pistorius’ website. The advertisement is controversial because on February 14^th, 2013, the Olympic athlete was charged, with the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The Washington Post created the headline of “ I am the bullet in the chamber’: Nike Gun-themed ad  yanked from Olympic Athlete’s website following murder charges.” Steenkamp was shot four times in her home in South Africa. The ad’s tag line “bullet in the chamber” reference is in regard to how quickly Pistorius left the starting block, at the beginning of his races. The controversy comes into play with the metaphor of bullet in the chamber referencing to him shooting his girlfriend. After the news, Nike pulled the ad from Pistorius’ website and no longer was associated with Nike advertising.