New Nike Ad Is Naked Ploy to Sell Clothes

NEW YORK — Basketball’s David Robinson and other sports stars are helping Nike sell clothes by leaving theirs off for a commercial debuting on the Super Bowl telecast.

Olympic runners Michael Johnson and Suzy Hamilton, soccer star Ronaldo and basketball’s Lisa Leslie are also featured clothes-less in the 60-second Nike ad.

But this is no “adults only” fare because crafty camera angles do the work of shorts and halters and protect the athletes from embarrassing exposure.

Nike executives said NBC requested minor modifications in the commercial, involving shading, and that Nike made them. That cleared the ad for the network’s telecast of the NFL championship game Jan. 25 between Green Bay and Denver. A minute of commercial time for the game, one of the most widely viewed TV events of any year, costs about $2.6 million this year.

For Nike Inc., this is just another unconventional ad, following in the footsteps of such offerings as a grimy Dennis Hopper in a referee’s uniform delivering a Patton-like ode to football.

The ad is an attempt to suggest that Nike athletic apparel is like an added layer of skin that can help people compete more effectively in a range of sports, Nike executives said Friday as they previewed the ad.