Instead of pulling up nike ad after nike ad, comparison to two other industries might have made sense. Drinking and smoking. Like Nike shoes they have something in common, namely being historical male vices and once being advertised by cowboys and other virile heroes.

However many cigarette companies as well as alcohol producers have very successfully switched to targeting women, or sometimes I guess, with questionable ethics, teenagers.

This honestly reads a lot like a male anxiety type post, no accident that the NBA and China make an appearance because aside from feminism the middle kingdom is another source of status fears these days for American men seemingly.