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Did You Know Nike's 'Just Do It' Was Inspired By A Death Row Inmate?

"Just Do It." We've all heard it. It's one of the most well-known taglines ever created. It's for Nike and it was created back in 1988. This we all know, But did you know that the tagline was inspired by the 1977 execution of Gary Gilmore? Yup, it's true.

Dan Wieden, co-founder of Wieden+Kennedy, shared the story at a recent Design Indaba conference in Cape Town. 

Of the inspiration, Wieden said, "I was recalling a man in Portland. He grew up in Portland, and ran around doing criminal acts in the country, and was in Utah where he murdered a man and a woman, and was sent to jail and put before a firing squad."

Reportedly, Gilmore's final words before execution were "Let's do it," which Wieden modified to the now ubiquitous "Just Do It."

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