Nike Korea - A New Day - Play New.
Breaking the Silence on Sports Abuse in Korea
In South Korea, sports had a dark side nobody talked about. Athletes faced abuse at every level - from school teams to professional leagues. Speaking up? That usually led to being pushed out of the sport entirely.
When we dug deeper, the numbers hit hard: 34% of athletes had faced abuse. The story was the same everywhere - from school gyms to pro fields.
We partnered with Nike to launch PLAY NEW - not just another campaign, but a movement to reshape Korean sports culture.
Together, we launched PLAY NEW. Not just a campaign - a movement that gave athletes at every level permission to speak up. We created a powerful film, got major sports figures to sign pledges, and designed wearable statements that turned fans into advocates.
For the first time, Korea's sports community started having the tough conversations needed for real change. The campaign didn't just highlight the problem - it gave athletes and supporters the platform they needed to speak up and be heard.
““As with the saying that one must break out of the old world to be born new, I believe that no matter how hard it is to move forward a new chapter for change, if someone does not speak out, we will be just stuck in a long-standing vicious cycle of many unfair practices. The fact that more people are gathering voices through the PLAY NEW campaign can be seen as the new beginning of a big change,” Shim Suk-hee (Olympic Gold Medalist / Ice Skater Shim Sukhee, who made international news for her bravery in speaking out against abuse in the Korean sports world. ”
Signed and shared by the Korean Football Association, professional baseball teams, Faker, Shim Sukhee and major Nike athletes and teams.
