Nike’s Colin Kaepernick campaign sends ‘terrible message’

Critics of Kaepernick, who have framed his protest as unpatriotic and disrespectful to the USA military, took to Twitter on Monday to hit out at the Nike deal. Nike is a tenant of mine.

National Football League owners changed the rules regarding the anthem in the spring to require players on the field to stand and “show respect” for the anthem.

But the league and union put that on hold after the Miami Dolphins faced backlash for classifying the protests as conduct potentially detrimental to the team – putting players at risk of fines or suspensions.

But now spokeswoman for Nike, Sandra Carreon-John, said: “Colin has been a Nike athlete since 2011”.

Rich tweeted later a picture of Nike socks with the logos cut off from the clothing. But then you see a major corporation like Nike get behind him, it kind of reinforces that you can still stand up for what you believe in, and you can still be a mainstream face that people look at.

The anti-Nike puns have also started.

Apex Marketing Group found that Nike’s announcement generated $19.01 million in positive media exposure, while $10.91 million was negative and $13.76 million was neutral.

President Donald Trump chimed in Tuesday afternoon in an interview with the Daily Caller.

Neil Saunders, managing director of the data and analytics firm GlobalData, called the Kaepernick strategy “commercially imprudent”.

Star athletes including Serena Williams praised the company for putting Kaepernick’s message at the forefront of its advertising, while quarterback Tom Brady also weighed in.

Many disagreed with Patrick and are applauding the company for siding with Kaepernick.

A majority, however, appear to be getting their kicks out of the spectacle, responding to the boycotters’ seemingly extreme resorts with tweets parodying the online outrage.

‘I think it’s a awful message. The NFL quarterback’s movement spread around the NFL, causing Trump to say previous year that any player who knelt during the anthem was a “son of a bitch” and should be fired.

Kaepernick’s protests of racial injustice launched a movement across the NFL.

“Pat would have found Kaepernick an extremely admirable person for what he believed in”, Jon Krakauer told The Washington Post.

“First the @NFL forces me to choose between my favorite sport and my country. So there is irony about what is going on”.