Nike invented jogging
jasonleow • 20 Mar 2023 •
I was today years old when I learned that Nike invented jogging. The founders of Nike partnered with a doctor to write a book called Jogging that outlined the benefits of regular jogging. Before this, only athletes did jogging. Then after a while, it got popular and went mainstream. And Nike sold more shoes.
Following the endorsement of health professionals, the release of Jogging, and the cachet of athletes and celebrities who jogged, the new sport broke through to the mainstream. – via Vox
I’ll be damned.
I’ve jogged all my life, some periods competitively, some for health. I’ve loved it, competed in it, did it with friends, and I never knew it was invented to sell more shoes.
Not for health or fitness or sportsmanship.
Sometimes I feel adulthood is like learning that everything you thought you knew was a lie. Jogging as Nike’s product is one such moment.
But yet at the same time as an entrepreneur, I can’t help but feel impressed.
Nike didn’t just make sneakers. They also created something that tapped into the underlying human needs that would drive sneaker sales.
The need to be healthy and fit.
The desire to follow those with high social status.
All through this activity called jogging.
Wild.
And here we are, indie solopreneurs, making little toy widgets on the internet and calling it entrepreneurship. These guys in the 60s were inventing a whole lifestyle, conjuring up wants where there were none.
Jogging.
What’s the jogging equivalent for indie hackers?
Comments
Kind of like how car companies invented “jaywalking” to make it morally acceptable to run over joggers in your vehicles.
@therealbrandonwilson oh yeah the Michelin guide is another great example.
@Winkletter Wait what really? Can’t tell if it’s a joke or real 🤣
@jasonleow A bit of hyperbole. Car manufacturers did promote the idea of “jaywalking” to clear the streets for cars.
@Winkletter I seee. I also just learned that Coca Cola invented our current version of Santa Claus
Reminds me of the story of the Michelin guide, which is of the same Michelin tire company that wanted to sell more tires, so they created a guide of restaurants for people to drive around and use more rubber.