This past Labor Day Nike announced former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick as the new face of the “Just Do It” slogan to celebrate the corporation’s 30 year anniversary.
Kaepernick is widely known right now for dropping to one knee during the national anthem, a practice that started during a game on September 1, 2016.
Kaepernick states that his reasoning behind his actions was to protest police brutality, and several other NFL players followed suit in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. They sit, kneel or put a fist in the air to protest institutional racism and the actions of the Trump Administration.
Nike is a brand known for its history of “using political movements in its ads,” Sarah Banet writes on Vox Media.
This was a riskier topic for Nike to use in their ad, and they went in already knowing people would get upset. Some have gotten so upset that there have been talks about people boycotting Nike and burning the shoes they already have to express their freedom as an American.
Nike’s sales dropped and the company lost $3.75 billion per thewrap.com since the new ad has been released. Nike’s sales have since shot back up to 31 percent.
Nike’s plan was to use Colin Kaepernick to attract a younger crowd, as Nike calls them “the future of our world.” The company’s goal was not just to shine light on the actions of Kaepernick, but to use that publicity to get customers talking about the brand as well.
President Donald Trump had a lot to say about this ad on Twitter. He said things like “Nike is getting absolutely killed with anger and boycotts.” and shared a video clip showing people destroying Nike products, which helped make these videos go viral. This in return helped Nike’s sales go up. Due to this, Nike feels Trump is helping their brand by semi advertising it on his twitter feed.
A market research study showed 46 percent of Nike’s Customers support the ad while only 34 percent do not. In other words, Nike obviously knows what to do to up their sales and help Colin Kaepernick make a stand. People may be burning up Nike products but they have to buy the products first so in return they are helping the sales go up.
According to The Washington Post, the NFL started a protest because of what Kaepernick did, so players started to kneel on one knee during the national anthem as well.
The league does not like the continued practice of the anthem protest and worked to create a policy over the summer designed to punish teams whose players protest the national anthem. However due to the NFL Players Association intervening there is no policy for this season.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that he believed “Everyone should stand for the national anthem,” during an October 2017 press conference. “What we’re trying to do is stay out of politics,” Goodell said.
This story continues to still get a lot of attention on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites, blowing up with all types of different memes, some related to football, but many more that are not. Some people feel what Kaepernick did was good and applaud Nike’s decision to give it the spotlight while some people really got upset by it. Regardless, the ad got the public talking.
Tiauna Dangerfield
Reporter