How a Nike Tracksuit Reframed Maduro’s Image and Modern Power

Time reports that on Jan. 3, hours after the U.S. captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, a photograph circulated showing Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima wearing a Nike tracksuit.

The image drew attention not only for its informality but for the presence of a global brand in a moment usually governed by the visual codes of state power: athleisure replaced uniform and a logo supplanted insignia. The photograph reframed the event through branding rather than political ritual; aside from the handcuffs, little in the frame signals coercion, and Maduro appears composed. The image was processed as cultural artifact—searches for "Nike Tech" spiked and the tracksuit sold out in multiple sizes—generating commentary, irony, and consumption rather than outrage or catharsis.

The piece contrasts these photographs with images from Saddam Hussein’s 2003 capture, which were staged to communicate rupture and subjugation, and argues that brands now act as visual infrastructure that organizes attention and offers legibility. That shift, it says, can normalize moments of political consequence, making them more easily absorbed and altering how seriousness and collective reckoning are encountered.

Key Topics

Culture, Nicolás Maduro, Nike, Nike Tech, Uss Iwo Jima, Venezuela