A recent video advertisement from Nike Australia Pty Ltd has undergone an Ad Standards Community Panel review after being labelled “terrifying” by one complainant.
The on-demand TV advert – which can be viewed at the end of this post – features a hacker-style character with a digital green face mask, who says in a distorted voice, "We interrupt your schedule programming with a new transmission from Nike football."
This then follows a series of very short scenes. This includes a claymation wrestling scene with Norwegian footballer Erling Haaland, which ends with a bicycle kick to a soccer ball that blasts a hole through his opponent.
Other scenes include Australian soccer player Sam Kerr dribbling in night vision with a crocodile nearby, Spanish footballer Alexia Putellas offering psychic readings, and a lawyer-esque infomercial for individuals who have been “skinned by Cole Palmer” – an English footballer.
The advert ends with the hacker character saying, “don’t just beat them, give them nightmares”.
According to one complainant, the advertising featured images that are terrifying for young children.
“One bit in particular was highly in appropriate - where it looks like a person gets there head blown off.”(sic)
Nike Australia has since responded to the complaint, writing that its intention was to create a satirical and engaging ad for its older fans and that it recognises the “Scary Good” ad may have upset some viewers, particularly younger ones. Nike apologised for any upset that was inadvertently caused to younger viewers of the ad.
“Immediately after Nike became aware of these concerns, Nike took steps to reduce the risk that the Scary Good Ad would be further broadcast to children,” the company shared. “This included instructing its ad placement agency to apply additional targeting rules, which further refined the audience for which the Scary Good Ad was targeted."
“Following the action taken by Nike in response to these complaints, the Scary Good Ad has not been broadcast on Australian TV video on-demand platforms since 13 July 2025 and will not be broadcast on them in the future. The Scary Good Ad has never been broadcast on free-to-air live television.”
Nike added that it does not believe the “Scary Good” ad breached the AANA Code of Ethics or the AANA Children’s Advertising Code – sharing five pages of specific reasons.
The company added that the intended audience for the ad was mid-teens and above who were likely to have an interest in Nike football products, noting that despite this, the sporting brand was unable to prevent younger viewers from seeing the “Scary Good” ad if they were watching a program on the account of a parent or other account holder
An Ad Standards Community Panel reviewed the case and first confirmed that the ad did target older children and that the provisions of the Children’s Code do apply.
The panel considered that the images would likely be frightening and distressing to young children, but further noted that the level of violence and horror in the advertisement was similar to that found in cartoons and games targeted towards older children anyway.
According to the panel, the level of frightening images in the advertisement was not unreasonable for the audience of older children the advertisement was targeted towards, which meant the ad did not breach the Children’s Code.
The panel also noted that while the ad did depict violence, it was “justifiable in the context of the product advertised.”
Finding that the advertisement did not breach any other section of the Children’s Code or the Code of Ethics, the panel dismissed the complaints.