Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka appear in Nike ad celebrating Black female athletes
Nike launched its 'We Play Real,' campaign on Sunday to show solidarity with Black women athletes in time for International Women's Day
Nike is showing love to Black women in new campaign.
The retail giant launched its ‘We Play Real,’ campaign on Sunday showing solidarity with Black women athletes just in time for International Women’s Day.
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“It’s not magic,” said playwright and actress Dominique Fishback, 29, who narrates the video featuring stars like Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, per People Magazine. “Yeah, we can make things float. Make something appear out of absolutely nothing. But even the greatest magicians worked at that trick. It’s not magic, organic.”
She adds:
“From the curl in our hair to the tip of our toes. The sway of our hips and the joy of our smile. We give our blood, sweat and tears to give our very best. Even when the world tells us it’s never going to be enough.”
“We got that thing, that hooping, soccer-playing, game-changing, oh so resilient double-A outing, butterfly-stroking thing. We worked for all of this. You thought history just made itself? Nah baby, this ain’t magic. This, this is the real thing.”
The brand is also donating $500K to Black Girl Ventures, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing Black and brown woman founders with access to capital, community, and help meeting business milestones.
Nike will also launch a campaign during which NBA stars will collaborate with Black women who are making a difference in culture, sports, and society. The women will team up with an NBA star and use their social media to promote their own stories of success.
The pairs include, “A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces) and LeBron James, Shelly Bell (Black Girl Ventures Founder and CEO) and Kevin Durant, Jewell Lloyd (Seattle Storm) and Kyrie Irving, DeShields (Chicago Sky) and Anthony Davis, Kayla McBride (Minnesota Lynx) and Paul George, and Natasha Cloud (Washington Mystics) and Draymond Green,” per the magazine.
Nike also posted to its Twitter account about the campaign:
“Black women are rarely recognized for the hard work they put in. It’s not just magic, they are the real thing. Join us in celebrating their hard work and help level the playing field. #WePlayReal :@domfishback,” the brand tweeted.
Nike has had several prominent Black female athletes on its roster, like Serena Williams.
As reported by theGrio, Alexis Ohanian, the husband of superstar Serena Williams, showed up to the Australian Open rocking a Nike T-shirt stating, “greatest female athlete” with the word female crossed out. The back of the tee simply says, “ever,” per The Hill.
The tee, which features an image of the tennis player, goes for $35 on nike.com and is described as:
“Serena Williams continues to cement her legacy as one of the greatest athletes to ever play the game. Just months after earning her 23rd Grand Slam title in April 2017, Serena announced that she was 20 weeks pregnant—meaning that she’d been pregnant during her incredible win in Melbourne! The Serena Williams T-Shirt lets you celebrate her extraordinary accomplishments in the comfort of soft cotton.”
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The Reddit co-founder married Williams in 2017 and the couple share a 3-year-old daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.
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