Nike’s Marketing Gaffe: Bringing on Kaepernick
My parents bought me my first pair of Nike sneakers in 1974 or 1975. I must have been 9 or 10 years old (“NFL was hit on the blind side by Nike ad,” Sept. 6).
I continued wearing Nike sneakers for years. In college, I purchased the famed Nike “shark” cleats for lacrosse. I loved them. To say I was a loyal Nike customer is just fact.
Now, the company has decided to make Colin Kaepernik the face of its brand. I just cannot purchase a product from a company whose new spokesman started a movement based on opinion and false rhetoric. It saddens me, but I will no longer be buying Nike products. David W. Ondrick Ridgefield, Conn.
As long as athletes who get paid millions of dollars choose to kneel during the national anthem, I will not watch a game.
Now that Nike is supporting Kaepernick, I will never buy a Nike product.
I served two years in the army during the Vietnam War and 26 years in the NYPD from the late ’60s to the early ’90s.
I respect those who keep us safe, and I respect our flag. I stand for our national anthem. Chester Hicks Jackson Heights
Kaepernick has shown himself to be nothing more than a money-hungry activist and celebrityseeking, has-been athlete.
What exactly has he sacrificed, as his ad claims? He has made millions, and he’s expected to make more.
If he were really serious about his cause, he would have done the ad for free. I don’t remember Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks or Medger Evers becoming rich off of their sacrifices. What a phony. Anthony Rotunno Staten Island
I won’t burn my Nikes. I paid too much for them. But I’ll never buy another Nike product.
This is a phony company that has used cheap labor to make expensive items. It’s all about the dollar.
It’s time to send a message: We can live without football and Nike, but we can’t live without our military. John Buonagura Stewart Manor
The only issue with the new Nike campaign is the football player they chose.
The wording would have been perfect if they pictured Pat Tillman — a true American who believed in something so much that he actually did sacrifice everything.
Time will tell if this affects Nike’s cash register, but I think it’s clearly on the wrong side of this one. Jerry Mallach Livingston, NJ