Nike Celebrates Air Max 30th Anniversary with Fake Ads Created by Young Artists

In the age of fake news, fake ads seem like an inevitable next step. And when Nike invited young New York artists Ava Nirui and Alex Lee to design custom Air Max sneakers on the 30th anniversary of the now-iconic shoe, they decided to take things one step further by giving each one a cheeky name and tagline in the classic in-your-face Nike ad style. Take the “Air Unity,” for example, which the duo fashioned entirely out of black and white velcro and presented with the phrase, “Stick together.” It is a subtle reference to race and division, but also a lighthearted image. “If all our shoes were made of Velcro, it’d be hard to avoid each other,” reads the tagline. “And hard to walk.” Other fake sneakers include a bulletproof “Air Ballistic,” plus an “Air Tomato Sauce,” which make an “excellent potpourri.” The project is also a logical next step for Nirui, who is perhaps best known on Instagram as @avanope. For her 137,000 followers, she posts her own custom Nike creations with a high-fashion spin, like an Air Max covered in the Louis Vuitton logo. But her latest work arguably has the most layers to it. “We wanted to keep things not-so-serious, but still found it important to address important issues, even in indirect ways,” she said on Wednesday at the Nike Showroom. So, you’re going to want to read the fine print. See all of the fake ads, here.