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Nick and Nike


NICK AND NIKE 
By John Pasch

The 30th anniversary of Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign has already sent shockwaves through the world of mass media. Since 2016, when Kaepernick decided to first kneel for the playing of the
National Anthem, he
has been the face of
the modern day civil
rights movement. As
of late, Nike, a major
sportswear company,
which has recently
signed a contract with
the National Football
League (NFL)
(Somers, 2018) agreeing to supply game day uniforms, made this controversial man the face of their well-known ad campaign. This controversy has been driven primarily by social media. Even though the actions themselves were demonstrated physically, a lot of the repercussions and feedback have come through different media outlets. A prime example is twitter, with a large online movement combatted by President Donald Trump and company.

Colin Kaepernick first began his personal crusade against police injustice in the fall of 2016, igniting a revolution. He commented: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.” (ESPN, 2016) Now, athletes all across the country follow his lead, calling for the fair and equal treatment of all people.
Nike, just in the past two weeks, released a 30th anniversary edition of their famous ad campaign of “Just Do It”. The respective ad is a black and white close up photo of Kaepernick’s face, with a tagline reading: “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.” In response to this, people have begun to protest in a way similar to the response to Kaepernick concerning his career. All across the nation, Nike products are being damaged and burned the same way that Kaepernick’s career was stripped away from him. Nike, in the same respect as Kaepernick, is willing to sacrifice everything, their product, for their belief in something, that something being equal rights. Some might argue that using his face to advertise for an apparel line is simply to associate with a controversial figure in order to produce more revenue, but is it truly? Research scientist Renée Gosling disagrees, saying: “But in actuality in order for a brand to be really enduring, it has to have a point of view, it has to have a personality, it has to have authenticity. By definition then, it needs to take a stand, and some stands are less controversial than others. But it needs to stand for something.” (Somers, 2018)

For any company working with a celebrity, it is not merely about simply putting a face on a billboard, but more importantly about the cause-fit (Somers, 2018) marketing strategy. While initially it might seem like Nike is taking a stance against the Star Spangled Banner, it is more relevant to see it as a campaign to be who you want to be. The Nike ad of “Just Do It” has, for 30 years, encouraged people to do things their own way, and to accomplish everything. Using Kaepernick as the face of an ad campaign was never backlash against the political happenings of the country, but a reinforcement of that idea; “Just Do It”. However, even if Nike never does take a formal political stance it will endure the consequences of using such a controversial figure. Supposedly, it could be called, “Believe in Something. Even if it Means Sacrificing Everything.”

REFERENCES
Abad-Santos, A. (2018, September 06). Why the social media boycott over Colin Kaepernick is a win for Nike. Retrieved September 13, 2018, from https://www.vox.com/2018/9/4/17818148/ nike-boycott-kaepernick

E. (2016, September 03). Colin Kaepernick protests anthem over treatment of minorities. Retrieved September 13, 2018, from http://theundefeated.com/features/colin-kaepernick- protests-anthem-over-treatment-of-minorities/

Somers, M. (2018, September 6). In Kaepernick ads, Nike further develops its brand point of view. Retrieved September 13, 2018, from http://mitsloan.mit.edu/newsroom/articles/in- kaepernick-ads-nike-further-develops-its-brand-point-of-view/

Word Count: 577.
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Comments

  1. KHSeptember 21, 2018 at 10:18 AM

    John,

    Glad to see you take up this latest wrinkle in the ongoing saga over #TakeAKnee. As you point out, this episode has a lot of moving parts: celebrity, racial (in)justice, social media, marketing and branding.

    For the most part, you do a good job laying out the players and the media/marketing dynamics. However, there are some problems throughout that undermine your efforts.

    For instance, your post features an in-text citation for ESPN. That source doesn't make it's way to your reference list. And the second reference is incomplete: who is the author? It isn't clear.

    Finally, you don't have an academic source. You may have a news story featuring an academic perspective, but that's not the same thing. Recall our discussions regarding the use of at least one peer reviewed piece of scholarship.

    A few minor issues require some attention as well. Once and awhile your punctuation around quotations is wrong: "Just Do It."

    Likewise, you might consider breaking up posts into shorter paragraphs. As we noted in class, longer paragraphs are a bit challenging to read on weblogs.

    Finally, the title for your posts should be ALL CAPS.

    Again, these are minor issues. The "big stuff" requires more immediate attention.

    In sum, this is a good start. With greater care and attention your posts will be even more successful.

    25/30 pts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 24, 2018 at 1:49 PM

    John,

    As both you and Professor Howley mentioned, this situation is a complex interplay of many different things: race, fame, marketing, capitalism, social media, etc. I applaud you for taking on such a complicated topic, and for the most part you were successful.

    My only criticism is that the detour you took into the marketing strategy of Nike in this particular campaign was a bit distracting. I think it would have been more effective to leave that out and instead do a deeper dive into the role social media plays.

    I enjoyed reading this perspective on the controversy, because it looked at the situation through a lens I had not thought to, that lens being social media.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 29, 2018 at 5:30 PM

    John,

    I'm glad that you decided to discuss #TakeAKnee for your blog post. It's such an important discussion, and a discussion that has grown even more relevant in the past couple of weeks.

    I appreciated that you brought up the backlash to Colin Kaepernick being the face of Nike's new campaign taking form through people burning Nike shoes and products.

    I would have liked to have seen you bring up the other argument against Colin Kaepernick and Nike's partnership on the campaign which is that people will no longer support Nike and that will put them out of business.

    I don't doubt that those who do not support Kaepernick will stop supporting Nike. However I don't believe that this will do any real harm to Nike. From what I constantly see when I'm back home in Chicago, and what has been noted by others, is that some of Nike's largest supporters are people of color and the Black community specifically. Many Black Americans, myself included support Kaepernick because he's standing up for us, and will continue to support Nike.

    I also disagree that Nike's campaign is simply framed around "Just being who you want to be". I believe Nike knew exactly what they were doing by working with Kaepernick. And their partnership with him demonstrates that they have taken a side on the debate of whether or not to take a knee, regardless of how upset that makes some people.

    ReplyDelete

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