What did Nike just do?

What did Nike just do? This year is the 30^th Anniversary of their Just Do It campaign and slogan. They celebrate it by making an athlete who doesn’t have a job in his sport their spokesman? The Nike advertisements say, "Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything" with the face of the first football player who took a knee during the National Anthem at a game. As a result, some are banning Nike products while others are buying more Nike products. It all means that we should have the courage of our convictions but should also have the understanding that others might not share them. Disagreement is not a reason to dismiss another human being. Remember that other brands supported issues too. In the past Tiffany's came out in support of the Paris Climate Accord, Starbucks agreed to hire refugees Facebook and Apple spoke out against the immigration ban. 

In the history of sports no ad campaign has been bigger than Just Do It. They could have picked Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods or Colby Bryant to name a few but instead they picked Colin Kaepernick, a guy who is not playing right now because no team would pick him up and who has a huge social footprint outsides of the sport itself. We have never seen something like this before. Colin took a knee during the National Anthem to raise awareness about racial inequality and police brutality against black men. People have supported the two sentences in the advertisement while others are burning their homes down as they burn their sneakers up in protest.

For years Nike did not want to weigh in on anything that would alienate their brand. This move to use Colin in their advertisement makes it all more unique. Is the knee thing an act of protest or an act of respect? It doesn’t help that Trump has to chime in on the debate and dare the owners to tell their players to “get the fuck out”! Isn’t this country all about that you have certain freedoms to do things that other people think you shouldn’t do?

Colin didn’t always kneel, once he began his protest by sitting. Colin’s white friend former NFL player Nate Boyer who also was a Green Barret, Staff Sgt. In the U.S. Army told Collin that it would be more respectful to kneel instead of sit. Kneeling was better because we often see an image of a soldier kneeling at the grave of a fellow fallen soldier.  54% of Americans feel that kneeling is inappropriate during the National Anthum. Yet Nike is the official apparel manufacturer for the NFL. Collin’s deal includes a signature shoe, an apparel line along with Nike making contributions to Collin’s Foundation.

If Nike didn’t use Collin, anyone could since Collin’s contract with the company was soon to run out. Athletes have always been a source of inspiration in advertising for sports companies. Wheaties Cereal uses sports figures all the time to promote their healthy cereal. You shouldn’t burn your stuff or your house down just because a sports figure even if he doesn’t have a team to play for, wishes to promote bias and discrimination that shouldn’t exist anyway.

In the long run brand boycotts don’t do anything. For Nike to jump into this media frenzy and political war that has no relevance to the sport, has the company looking like an activist. Professional football player Chris Long, a Defensive End for the Philadelphia Eagles said that we should talk about it since we have a guy who doesn’t have a job in the NFL because of his ideology and for a major corporation like Nike to get behind him,  it reinforces that you can still stand up for what you believe in at any cost. That is a positive. Last night the NFL started their season and it is not clear how football will act. What is clear is that Collin is still impacting the discussion about the NFL.