Nike's Controversial Ad: The Outrage Behind 'Never Again... Until Next Year'

American sports giant Nike demonstrated this week that even a multi-billion-dollar corporation can display the insensitivity and disconnection of a 14-year-old amateur league player.

Following the prestigious London Marathon, the company chose to launch a campaign with the slogan "Never again... until next year" – thereby achieving the unthinkable by turning the sacred Holocaust remembrance symbol into a finishing joke for a marathon.

Nike store (Photo: Ami Shooman)

"Nike's marketing department discovered an innovative method to burn millions of dollars on a campaign while simultaneously losing customers," a crisis communications expert said Sunday. "It's like advertising a new running shoe with the slogan 'The Twin Towers fell, but our prices fell even more.'"

This embarrassing controversy occurs while the world is still dealing with the aftermath of the October 7 events. While pro-Palestinian activists demonstrated in London's streets during the marathon itself, it seems the Nike creative team managed to accomplish what the protesters could only dream of – angering the global Jewish community with one brief advertisement.

"You can understand the mistake," a social media user wrote sarcastically. "After all, what's the difference between the murder of six million Jews and muscle pain after running 26 miles? Both cause people to say 'never again.'" The storm created by this controversial publication certainly didn't end there.

"Why do you keep failing?" the official X account of the Mossad tweeted while tagging Nike. Another user wrote angrily, "Did you hire Goebbels for your public relations department?" and others added, "Boycott the company. Never buy from them again."

Sources in the advertising industry believe Nike simply tried to connect with the trend of authenticity and witty humor that characterizes the younger generation, but this time made a massive error in a display of trivialization and particularly shocking tactlessness in such a sensitive political and diplomatic climate, days after Holocaust Remembrance Day was observed.

As the controversy heats up, Nike has yet to formally respond. Perhaps the company supports the "no publicity is bad publicity" approach, or maybe quite ironically, it simply hopes everyone will forget about the incident – exactly the opposite of what "never again" was meant to achieve. Crisis management experts are already recommending that the company issue an immediate apology, donate to Holocaust remembrance organizations, and perhaps consider employing at least one person in their marketing department who has opened a history book in their lifetime.