During the fourth NBA Finals game between the Utah Jazz and the Chicago Bulls, Nike ran a commercial in which a number of players were using dogs to chase down a “Whistle-Happy Official.” At the end of the commercial, the basketball official is caught and the comment made that, “There is one less whistle-happy official, courtesy of the fun police.”
This is one commercial in a series, of “fun police” versus sports officials. Nike should be ashamed of itself for even considering an ad like this in light of the increased violence against officials. If Nike is going to make light of officials, it may want to consider doing it in such a manner that does not promote violence.
Officials have been used as scapegoats for years. Because officials are human, they do make mistakes, and it is unfortunate when they have an impact on the outcome of the game. But imagine the game without them.
Nike should exercise some social responsibility in the future and promote sportsmanship for the youth, instead of suggesting that it is all right to hunt down officials like animals–all in the name of fun, of course.
