Early Thursday morning, South African police arrested Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius on suspicion of murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend. Initial reports indicated that the death was an accident, but police have refrained from a definitive statement on the crime.
Regardless, this Nike ad takes on new and chilling meaning. And, as SB Nation notes, it's not the first time Nike has used athleticism-as-weaponry as a casual analogy:
Pistorius' website pulled the ad because of its obvious bad taste given the situation. Question: is it in bad taste regardless of the new revelations? Is weaponry and violence too serious of a metaphor to employ so casually in marketing?
Pistorius remains in police custody. He was a competitor at the London Olympics and a two-time gold medalist at the 2012 Paralympics.