This past January Nike launched their newest campaign #makeitcount with a photo exhibition by photographer Adam Hinton, and an inspiring video that featured athletes showing their dedication to sport.

Most recently, Nike charged filmmaker Casey Neistat with creating a video for the campaign that would embody “making it count”, which he did – sort of.  Neistat took the budget Nike offered him, and spent it on a 10-day globetrotting adventure with his pal Max.

The video stars Neistat, and shows him running past the Eiffel Tower, the Colesium, the Pyramids, down a Thai beach, through London and other iconic locations. The music is upbeat, and inspirational quotes are interspersed among images of Neistat frolicking around the world. The video also manages to capture the humbling effect of travel, a phenomena Neistat apparently experiences during minute 2:14 when he muses over Arabic script: “The trouble is all of the street signs are written in squiggly lines…” #mindblownAmerican.

However, the real trouble with the video is unless you subscribe to Neistat’s personal vision of “making it count” the video really does not uphold the Nike brand at all. Nike is committed to athletes, and helping them be the best they can be – not to funding Casey and Max’s super awesome vacation.

The reaction on YouTube has been mixed with viewers applauding the video for its inspirational message, and others shaming Nike for glorifying “over-privileged douchebags”.

All in all, the public shouldn’t punish Nike for giving all that money to a wayward filmmaker. Surely Nike marketing executives have already smacked their heads enough after watching the video and thinking, “Well, we could have done that!”