Nike has pulled ads that it ran for the London marathon that used the phrase ‘never again’ following a backlash.
The term ‘never again’ is a term used to commemorate Holocaust remembrance, and its use by Nike has been labelled ‘tone deaf’ by critics.
Nike’s billboards were dotted along the London Marathon course, which attracted 56,000 runners and thousands more spectators.
Nike said the billboards were part of a broader campaign, ‘Winning Isn’t Comfortable’, designed to motivate runners to push the boundaries of performance.
“We did not mean any harm and apologise for any we caused,” a Nike spokesperson said.
“A series of billboards with taglines such as ‘Remember why you signed up for this,’ ‘This is bloody tough’ and ‘Never again until next year’ were placed along the route to inspire runners and the copy was based on common phrases used by runners.”
The backlash comes at a particularly sensitive time for the Jewish community, which has experienced a sharp rise in antisemitism since the 7 October attack by Hamas and Israel’s subsequent response.
In the 12 months after the Hamas attacks there were 5,583 antisemitic incidents reported in the UK alone.
