Nike and Kaepernick

There has been a recent uproar regarding Colin Kaepernick and Nike's collaboration, and the backlash Nike has acquired has gone out of hand.

These past few weeks, Nike has released an impactful commercial featuring Kaepernick, Serena Williams, LeBron James, and many other various influential athletes with the key message being "Don't ask if your dreams are crazy, ask if they're crazy enough." I think these ads are wonderful and very motivating as It could apply to anybody or everybody. The commercial is very inclusive and uses powerful words, and i like the people Nike had featured.

Kaepernick, an American football player and lead star in this Nike campaign has always been vocal about his stance on police brutality and has the opportunity to educate his following about the social injustice happening in this world today. His controversial kneel protest during the American national anthem  in the NFL stirred up a lot of discussion and conflict.

Despite its positive feedback from those supporting activism, others are not taking it well assuming it has "unpatriotic" and disrespectful qualities toward United States since they are supporting an athlete who supports activism. A hashtag called "#NikeBoycott" and "#Justburnit" got trending on twitter, with the responses of former Nike fans disowning their Nike branded products and burning them to flames. People are responding very immaturely. The concept of the advertisement was taken out of context and made into something it wasn't meant to stand for when it was meant to be a message of hope and equality.

https://twitter.com/sclancy79/status/1036749717206691840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1036749717206691840&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2018%2F9%2F4%2F17818148%2Fnike-boycott-kaepernick

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1038018199449567232?lang=en

            

for the most part, many do not find any wrong in this ad. Responses have been about them rooting for its meaning and wondering why it was as contentious as it was.

https://twitter.com/ava/status/1036730668066238465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1036730668066238465&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2018%2F9%2F4%2F17818148%2Fnike-boycott-kaepernick

I do not think that main goal is to turn a profit, as they have lost some of their following from their recent campaign. You wouldn't turn a profit if you were to stand by a message that is so wrongly misunderstood and that you know would cause a reaction. It was a very smart move for the Nike brand to promote Kaepernick, who stands by putting an end to the police brutality and racial discrimination that is unfortunately still happening to this day and Nike has held their long commitment to their inclusivity towards everyone, so i do think it was a perfect fit for them to both collab . The public response of it all has not changed my views at all, and i still think that the protest against police brutality does not have any affiliation with "going against" or "disrespecting" the United States.