Nike’s new ad features pregnant and breastfeeding women

It’s not every day that you see pregnant and breastfeeding women in an ad for a sports-cum-lifestyle brand. A few days ago, Nike released such an ad.

“Can you be an athlete? You, pregnant? You, a mother? That depends,” goes the voice-over at the start of one of Nike’s most stirring ads in the recent past. Creative agency Wieden+Kennedy London made the ad.

Called 'The Toughest Athletes', the 60-second-long ad, Nike says, captures the power and strength of women during one of the most transformative stages of their lives, pregnancy and early motherhood.

It throws light on the correlation between sports and motherhood through the lens of more than 20 mothers across various stages of their pregnancy and postpartum journeys. The ad stars Nike faces such as Serena Williams, Alex Morgan, Perri Edwards, Bianca Williams, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Nia Ali.

It was filmed during the COVID pandemic and its scenes were “compiled from more than 22 hours of intimate footage shot by the mothers featured and their friends and families. Each respective shoot was directed via Zoom to keep each individual's health and safety a priority.”

The moms featured in the ad hail from across the world, from countries such as the United Kingdom, United States, Singapore, France, Australia, Jamaica and more.

The film coincides with Nike's first dedicated maternity collection, Nike (M) that is currently available in North America, Europe and Africa. The collection will release in select Asia Pacific and Latin American markets in late 2021.

Nike has also partnered with pre- and post-natal exercise expert Jane Wake to create four audio-guided motherhood-related workouts for its Nike Run Club app.