SPORTS CELEBRITY AS AN INTERMEDIARY AND CULTURAL INSTRUMENT OF
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND ETHNIC-RACIAL EQUALITY.
A STUDY OF THE CORPORATE CAMPAIGN "COMMON THREAD", PUBLISHED BY
THE SPORTS BRAND NIKE ON INSTAGRAM
JAVIER DÍAZ-BAJO RODRIGUEZ
javier.diazb@edu.uah.es
Ph.D. candidate and Assistant Professor of Audiovisual Communication and Researcher at the
University of Alcalá (Spain). Member of the research group Images, Words and Ideas. His
research focuses on discursive and narrative practices conducted by corporate brands through
digital media.
RUT MARTÍNEZ-BORDA
rut.martinez@uah.es
Professor of Audiovisual Communication and Research Fellow at the University of Alcalá (Spain).
Dr Martínez-Borda is a member of the research group Images, Words and Ideas. Her research
focuses on human practices supported by digital technologies, audiovisual narratives,
videogames and fandom. Her current projects are supported by the Spanish Ministry of Culture
and Education. She has been a visiting scholar at the Institute of Education (University of
London); University of Westminster in London; University of Delaware in Philadelphia.
Abstract
Corporate brands play a social role through the discourses they broadcast on their social
media. The sports celebrity acts as a cultural intermediary and communicating instrument in
the value system that the brand brings together in defence of social, cultural and ethnic
diversity (Turner, 2004; Erdogan, 1999; Marshall, 1997).
From this perspective, the aim of this proposal is to detect the socio-cultural elements that
articulate the discourse constructed by the Nike sports brand in defence of racial and ethnic
equality in sport.
Methodologically, the content analysis approach is adopted (Krippendorff, 2013).
The data consists of 3 short films that make up a campaign created by the sports brand Nike
called "Common Thread". The criterion for their selection was the discursive projection that
the brand emits in favour of socio-cultural equality on Instagram.
In order to define the model of analysis, the classical studies of Greimas (1976) and
McCracken (1989) is taken as a starting point.
The results show that the brand manifests itself on social media as a social agent that
promotes equality and racial-ethnic rights for the black sports community through sport and
culture.
Keywords
Brand; values; celebrity; discourse; social media.
How to cite this article
Díaz-Bajo Rodriguez, Javier; Martínez-Borda, Rut. Sports celebrity as an intermediary and
cultural instrument of fundamental rights and ethnic-racial equality. A study of the corporate
campaign "common thread", published by the sports brand NIKE on Instagram. Janus.net, e-
journal of international relations. Thematic dossier International Relations and Social
Networks, July 2021. Consulted [online] on date of last visit, https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-
7251.DT21.4
Article received on January 5, 2021 and accepted for publication on March 21, 2021