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The September 2018 announcement by Nike that controversial free agent NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick would be one of the faces of the company's 30th anniversary Just Do It campaign prompted waves of support, condemnation, calls for boycotts, as well as spoofs of Nike'spurported reaction to all the fuss. Among that last category was a quote attributed to Nike holding that since they were a $76 billion company, they could afford to let go of all 'Make America Great Again' customers. That is, Nike supposedly boldly and hubristically stated that they were big enough to thumb their nose at conservative consumers disgruntled about company's relationship with Kaepernick and could safely ignore any boycott threats: Given that Nike has shown no signs of backing down from their association with Colin Kaepernick in the face of criticism, condemnation, and threats, some onlookers might believe the words reproduced above reflect the company's attitude towards the issue. Certainly that belief is not a rare sentiment, as some outside Nike have said as much (although with a bit more subtlety): But Nike themselves haven't officially expressed such a sentiment, at least not in so many words. We found no evidence that anyone authorized to speak for Nike made the statement reproduced above, or said anything that could be reasonably paraphrased as such. The earliest reference to this statement we could find came from a Twitter user who, in response to an article published by The Hill about President Trump's reaction to the Nike/Kaepernick deal, wrote that the quotes words stemmed from an NPR segment aired on the morning of 4 September 2018: However, an NPR segment on this topic aired that day included no statement or quote of any kind from anyone associated with Nike. The All Things Considered piece by NPR correspondent Yuki Noguchi merely offered a few sound bites from third parties who suggested that Nike does not flinch from courting controversy. For example, David Carter, the executive director of the Sports Business Institute at the University of Southern California, was quoted as saying that Nike likes this attention. They've always reveled in it, and they have not been shy about using athletes' controversial opinions and positioning to drive their value. And Matt Powell, a sports industry adviser with the NPD Group, opined that Gen-Z and millennial consumers really want brands and retailers to take visible and vocal stands on social issues. And I don't think there's going to be any significant backlash [against Nike]. Another NPR segment on the subject also from 4 September (this one aired on Morning Edition), featured an interview with Justin Tinsley of the website The Undefeated. Tinsley's mention of wanting to be on the right side of history suggests this NPR piece was in fact where the alleged statement came from, but the words were a paraphrase of Tinsley's comments, not Nike's: A similar remark was offered by Antonio S. Williams, who was quoted in the Associated Press article linked above as saying that Nike wants to be on the right side of history and the right side of its core consumers. All in all, what we seem to be seeing here is other people's analyses of Nike's position on the issue and its attendant controversy being paraphrased and wrongly put into the corporate mouth of Nike. We also note that the current market capitalization of Nike is around $128 billion, not $76 billion. (Nike themselves did not respond to our request for comment in time for publication.)
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