Colin Kaepernick and Nike? I’ve got no problem with that
“I have to stand up for people that are oppressed,” Colin Kaepernick said in an NFL.com interview in August of 2016, days after he first took a knee. “If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I know that I stood up for what is right.”
Welp, Kaepernick has lost football. No team will sign him, and he’s in the midst of a court case against the NFL, claiming the owners colluded to keep him off the field. (Considering something called a “Nathan Peterman” is starting in Week 1 of the NFL season lends credence to his claim.)
But when it came to endorsements, not only did Kaepernick not lose any, he just got the featured role in Nike’s 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign, with the tagline, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything,” a sentiment that can be inspiring when it comes to Kaepernick’s story. He has taken a stand, and it’s cost him his football career, so the tagline works for him. (Thought experiment: But what if it goes the other way? After all, there are a surfeit of morons in America who “believe” in some crazy, dangerous, or downright silly things. I’d hate for them to “Just Do It.” I’d rather they “Just Don’t Do It In the Literal Sense, You Know, As In Procreate.”)
But this isn’t about your cousin Denny who thinks our brains are being manipulated by contrails, this is about Nike realizing they’re going to sell more gear with Kaepernick as the face of their product than without.
Oh yeah. You better believe it. You think Nike, a company with a $131 billion market cap, didn’t do its homework on this one? You think they didn’t run the cost-benefit, didn’t focus group, didn’t make sure this was the right move? Besides, Nike isn’t exactly a wallflower when it comes to social issues — or standing by their people. “Nike culturally has always stood their ground,” said Eleanor Kubacki, the founder and CEO of the Trenton-based, multi-million dollar ad agency with offices also in Philadelphia and Dallas. “They didn’t dump Tiger Woods when he went through his sex addiction issues.” Kubacki also points out how ad agencies, as well as well-known brands, have not shied away from political messaging in today’s climate. “Nike is about youth culture, about social movements, so they can and do push the envelope,” she said. “Maybe I’m a little surprised at how strong they came out with this, but look at their target demographic. It fits. We’re talking Generation Z, Millennials. These are groups that are behind the right to protest.” My take? I think it is the right move, giving Kaepernick a front and center spot as the face of Nike. The “Just Do It” campaign has long been about, well, “just doing it” and Kaepernick is as good a pitchman for that phrase as anyone. I mean, he “did it” and kept “doing it” no matter the personal cost. So yeah: From an advertising perspective, I’ve got no problem with it. It’s certainly got people talking, both in favor of it and against it, with tons of people taking to social media with pictures and videos of themselves cutting up, burning, or otherwise destroying their Nike products. (I bet there’s some down-on-their-luck veterans who might’ve liked getting their hands on those goods, just saying.) Of course, there’s the whole matter of what triggered this in the first place. If you remember, there was a spate of videos featuring police and minorities not quite embraced in any kumbaya moments, to say the least. In some cases, I’m sure the video was fully true. In other cases, I’m sure we only saw part of the story. But no matter what you “believe,” Kaepernick “believed” that enough was enough and he was going to make a statement.
At first he sat through the national anthem. He started kneeling at the request of Nate Boyer, a former Seattle Seahawk and a Green Beret, who told Kaepernick taking a knee is more respectful. Kaepernick took the advice, and met up with Boyer. In fact, Boyer stood next to Kaepernick, hand on heart, before a game in 2016.
And really: If a Green Beret saw fit to stand next to Kaepernick while Kaepernick was in full protest mode, it would seem everyone should be OK with it.
Of course that’s not the case, with President Donald Trump leading the charge against Kaepernick and other pro athletes who see fit to exercise their First Amendment rights.
Because really, at its heart, that’s all this is. It’s about one man exercising his wholly American right to peacefully protest what he perceives as an injustice.
You may not agree with Kaepernick’s actions, and that’s your choice. But to think he’s somehow disrespecting the flag, disrespecting the anthem, disrespecting the country, is downright wrongheaded.
Our flag represents freedom. Period, the end. And that freedom does not end when someone wants to kneel before it in protest. In fact, that freedom swells.
To disagree with Kaepernick is partaking in discourse. To decide to not buy Nike products is you expressing your position. But to call him unpatriotic — or worse — is wholly un-American.
Jeff Edelstein is a columnist for The Trentonian. He can be reached at jedelstein@trentonian.com, facebook.com/jeffreyedelstein and @ jeffedelstein on Twitter.