Empowered or Zen? (Nike women vs. Adidas women.)

LA,




So everyone is comparing the two commercials that both adidas and nike made for the 2008 olympics. No lie I really really liked the adidas ad. It was extremely moving. The whole country coming to aid the athletes was an awesome idealism portrayed in the ad. In contrast the Nike ad showed that  anyone and everyone could be an athlete, which is fine too. But the ad was flashy and I couldn't quite pay attention. The only reason I knew it was nike, was the swoosh and the "just do it" ad at the end. So I was not a fan.
So in doing my research of which companies' campaign do I like the most I decided to check out each of their women's sports equipment sites. 
Lets see Nike's first. After a simple short google search of "nike women" I was greeted with a colorful page showing the different aspects of the Nike women's culture. There was an easily located music player that instantly started playing music that repeated the line "I've got to be unstoppable" and if you don't that song, there are about 5 tracks to choose from... but if you do like them feel free to download them like i did... Yeah, Nike gives you free music. In fact I'm listening to it right now. In one click from me I'm checking out their signature shoes, and in two more clicks I'm designing my own pair of $120.00 Shox. Thoroughly impressed with their women's website that made the shopping enjoyable(who doesn't like free stuff?), empowering,and simple. Nike has made made me sure that the next pair of running shoes I'm getting are Shox. 
Excited I went to Adidas' women's site. Well I went to one of them... then another... then another... I can't even find today the site I had yesterday. At first when I found their site, all I could do was look and add to my wish list I couldn't buy any of it... This was in adidas classic. Most of their stuff in this site was only for looks I found no sports gear. Just stuff for the poser. So then I hop onto Adidas performance site to see what is considered performance. I am greeted with a Woman in a yoga pose, some soft zen music in a popup player thats confusing to use, and though they too have a selection of about 5 tracks I cant download any of them, and who would anyway? They are specific Adidas made tracks anyway. So I find a virtual show room and a place to "play yoga" where you find actual people doing yoga. The place is filled with slogans like "Be in a sport where the success is measured in centimeters, and the records you break are your own." This site was all against the teamwork portrayed in their Olympic ads. I was highly confused because I could look at the clothes and even blog about them but I couldn't buy them. After a longer search i found a shop Adidas site but it was set up even differently than the other two so i was unsure that I was even still on an Adidas site. 
That was yesterday. Today I can't even find the women's performance site, its not the same. You can buy the clothes straight up, but its in a pop up window so it like jumps up and attacks you as soon as you click the link. Adidas has also started the  Mi-Adidas campaign that they are launching so that you can make your shoes to whatever color and adjustments you want... I guess those Shox really got to them. I showed my roommate who is a die hard Adidas fan and she gave up on the site after a short time because it was confusing. 
I was highly disappointed in Adidas. I mean come on, make your website simple... people like to know they can find the same site two days in a row.

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