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No Brakes, No Problem - When Nike Shocked The Japanese Public Order

CultureGuest Userjapanese, subculture, original, culture, photographer, photography, fixie, nike, bike, biking, piste bikes, urahara, nike ad, controversial
No Brakes, No Problem - When Nike Shocked The Japanese Public Order

We have introduced how big Japan's fixed gear bike scene was before.

With some of UraHara's biggest names choosing fixie, or "Piste Bike" as people referred to in Japan as their main means of transportation, the Tokyo streets in the early 2000's were full of fearless riders.

 
 

While the cultural impact that fixies had in the early 2000's was already immense, a few years later things started to escalate. Fixed-gear bikes were already seen as controversial by some people, as they had no brakes and could potentially be dangerous if not ridden correctly. More and more people were starting to catch on to the movement, which naturally led to more people having mixed feelings about the movement as well.

 
 

Jump 2007, the year when probably the most controversial event surrounding Piste bikes took place. On April 9th, the pedestrians of Shibuya were surprised with a giant advertisement covering basically the entire wall of Parco. The ad featured a few young people pushing their fixed gear bikes, and in bold white letters read "ブレーキなし。問題なし。", which translates to "No Brakes, No Problem." And in the bottom corner, a very familiar slogan, in fact probably the most famous slogan ever completed the giant ad: "JUST DO IT."

 
 

Nike is known for being progressive & leaders when it comes to cultural matters, often being the first in the industry to bring up certain topics whether it be through advertisements, videos, statements, or more recently though social media. However, this advertisement didn't quite [or actually did] reach the [intended] end result they were hoping for garnering more negative feedback than positive.

 
 

Many people claimed the advertisement encouraged illegal activity, and in just a few days the ad was taken down. It even resulted in Nike issuing an official apology regarding the incident.

 
 

It might sound like a lot for one ad, but the thing was, there were more. Other ads of the same series read "It's too early to go home", "The cops there are good people", "If we get kicked out, we go to the next location", and more.