When I was in high school, my father brought home a pair of Saucony sneakers for me. I had never heard of Saucony before – my peers were overly concerned with Nike and other popular brands. Dad told me that these were considered a top end running shoe, and I was grateful to have something comfortable for gym class.
Walking into a high school, where Nikes are the height of pop, while wearing Sauconys leads to the expected social outcasting. I wasn’t exactly popular to begin with, and for weeks the questions and the teasing went on. Years later, I recall one of those doing the teasing showing up wearing Sauconys. After all, they were a top running shoe.
Since then, I haven’t owned any of these. However, Jodi is an avid runner and this brand is well known to her. They are very popular shoes with intense runners, and when Jodi trained for the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon I saw tons of these on the trails. This weekend, a local running store ran some great deals on Sauconys and ran this ad:
Not only has Saucony made a reappearance in my life, it now uses one of my favorite subjects to advertise its own product. “Where physics and hotness converge.”
Where the hell was this ad when I needed just an iota of currency with the cool kids? Ah, well, it wouldn’t have mattered. Kids are cruel, to themselves and to others. It’s a part of growing up. No doubt that even had Saucony conveyed both my love of physics, and my hotness, they would have found other faults with me. Probably a good thing they did; how else would I have overcome my own fears of interpersonal relationships once I got to college (not without a great number of mistakes, but that’s learning) and realized my true passion and understanding for physics in graduate school? All that comes before shapes all that comes after; this is true for punishment as well as reward. Let’s remember Saucony as a fond punishment from my peers, one which has come full circle in this final advertising vindication of my hard-earned self-confidence and my love of physics.
