Ad of the Day: Nike

Want to hear something horribly depressing? (No? Too bad.) For the first time ever, the current generation of children is expected to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents. (Told you it was depressing.) Five years shorter, to be exact.

So, what gives? To state the obvious, we're getting lazier. According to Nike's Designed to Move campaign, there's been a massive drop in physical activity among kids in recent years. In the U.S. alone, physical activity has declined 32 percent in a single generation.

To bring attention to the issue, Nike partnered with Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., to produce this short video, which recently premiered at the annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York. The (unbranded) spot asks kids what they would do with five extra years (you know, the years they're not going to have because they're all going to die young). Their responses range from ambitious ("Build a time machine," "Go looking for dark matter") to tear-jerking ("Make medicine for the sick," "Bring my uncle back") to curiously rodent-related ("Get more hamsters," "Be the boss of all the chipmunks").

And then the spot finishes with its coup de grace: Set against photos of these kids standing in abandoned athletic fields, text appears that says: "For the first time in history, this generation is expected to die 5 years younger than their parents due to lack of physical activity." Because even if it's too late to get your average adult to go for a run, there's nothing like juxtaposing a really cute kid with the possibility of death to scare any parent straight.

So, tell your children to go play outside. Or at least get them a mini treadmill. They make those.

CREDITS

Client: Nike

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.

Creative Directors: Alberto Ponte, Ryan O'Rourke

Copywriter: Antony Goldstein

Art Director: Bertrand Fleuret

Producers: Katie Reardon, Hayley Goggin

Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff, Susan Hoffman

Production Company: Don't Act Big

Executive Producer: Emily Fincher

Director: Lance Bangs

Line Producer: Howard Kennedy

Director of Photography: Kevin Fletcher

Editing: Joint Editorial

Editor: Matthew Hilber

Postproduction: Lauren Pullano

Postproduction Executive Producer: Patty Brebner

Mixing: Charlie Keating, Joint Editorial