This is one Nike ad that just didn’t do it.
Someone in the sports apparel giant’s marketing department decided for some reason that turning a Holocaust phrase into a joke, using deathly-black lettering on a blood-red background, was a spectacular idea for Sunday’s London Marathon.
And now the company is scrambling to apologize.
The amount of people that had to approve this ad from @Nike and didn’t notice anything wrong is kind of insane. pic.twitter.com/E91ul06ylW
— Yehuda Teitelbaum (@chalavyishmael) April 28, 2025
As part of a series of billboards along the marathon route, the company aimed to emphasize the toughness of the 26-mile trek. But one in particular stood out for all the wrong reasons.
It declared, in all-uppercase emphasis:
“NEVER AGAIN.
UNTIL NEXT YEAR.”
Do you think this billboard was unacceptable?
“Never again” is a phrase that can be used in many contexts, of course. But in the post-World War II years, and in a number of languages, it has a special resonance — a vow that “never again” would the Jewish people allow themselves to be victimized by the kind of international genocide that was the Holocaust.
Nike’s billboard, right down to the crimson coloring, appeared to many to make a sport of that resonance, cheapening the suffering and death of countless millions by comparing it to the rubbery legs and muscle cramps of marathon running.
And their responses were a PR nightmare for a company that spends billions each year on advertising:
I will “never again” purchase anything from Nike. pic.twitter.com/lPx99oOsqV
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) April 28, 2025
I guess Nike’s deranged new slogan did achieve one thing: a lot of people will never again buy any of their products. pic.twitter.com/zqctqlvsIq
— Uri Kurlianchik (@VerminusM) April 28, 2025
I’m guessing it’s not super fun in the halls of @Nike right now.
So many unforced errors.
Never again? WTAF was this marketing person thinking??
A purge of mid level marketers must be underway. Plus some high level ones. pic.twitter.com/sz8NXaDZdZ
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) April 28, 2025
However, there was a sizable contingent of commenters who argued that Nike was getting a bad rap.
To this camp, “never again” can apply to just about any arduous experience — and a marathon run is certainly an arduous experience:
Monster kosher super Jew Zionist here. Just an fyi, when runners run marathons, the first thing they say (and when I say first, I mean first) is Never Again. Ive said it myself many times And this was an ad at a running event. I get the confusion but not everything has to be…
— Gregg Golan (@gregggolan) April 28, 2025
I’ve never seen such a ridiculous outcry for nothing like this before.
If you’ve ever run a marathon you almost definitely say the words ‘never again’ during the race.
This is a great ad that all runners would understand.— Dean Smith (@deanysmith) April 29, 2025
Most runners finishing a marathon will say exactly that? What’s the issue?
— FTM42 (@ftm42) April 28, 2025
Nike is known for bold, or baffling, marketing decisions. (This is the company that’s stood by NFL has-been Colin Kaepernick for years now, long after his shelf life had expired.)
But in the world after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, after anti-Semitism has been allowed to run riot on some U.S. college campuses, the “Never Again” billboard has apparently embarrassed even Nike executives.
In a statement the company gave to Fox News Tuesday, it offered an apology:
“We did not mean any harm and sincerely apologize for any we caused,” the statement said.
“The London billboards were part of a broader campaign built on runners’ insights and designed to motivate runners to push past what they think is possible.
“Nike condemns any form of antisemitism. The language should not have been used, and the billboards have come down.”
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