Hey, Nike’s new ad campaign came and went without much fanfare, didn’t it? Colin Kaepernick’s face has been all over my newsfeed for the past few days, along with a ton of great memes. These are a few of my favorites:
and the best one:
Some people really loved this campaign. Some people have burned their $100 shoes because of it. There are a lot of hot takes about this campaign. I generally don’t like to post hot takes because they tend to be emotionally driven, but I have an opinion about this advertisement that I haven’t seen, so here I go.
Before I share it, a couple of points for housekeeping:
- I think Colin Kaepernick is completely justified in his protest. Protest is an American right, and police brutality is a problem in this country.
- Nike has every right to hire Kaepernick for its campaign. It is a company and can choose to do whatever it wants.
- Burning Nike gear is dumb and does literally nothing to the company. I agree with one hot take, give it to a veteran or person in need if you hate it that much.
The problem I have is that Nike doesn’t really care about Kaepernick or his cause that is getting them such acclaim. They are using him to cash in on the culture war that is tearing our country apart. How do I know this? Because of what the ad says.
“Believe in something, even it means sacrificing everything. Just do it.”
That is…the dumbest slogan I’ve seen in a Nike ad. Believe in something? What does that mean? Anything? Cause the people burning their Nike shoes sure do believe in something, and they are sacrificing the clothes they bought to express it. The white nationalists at Charlottesville believed in something, and some people lost their jobs because of it. These people who have problems with the ad believe in something and are expressing it.
It’s a banal statement. It has no teeth. It’s just saying, “This guy believes in something and it cost him. It’s okay if your beliefs cost you things.” That’s bad advice. Not every belief is worth having a cost because not every belief is good.
If Nike really wanted to make a stand in support of Kaepernick’s protest, it should have printed, “Believe in what’s right, even it means making a sacrifice. Just do it.” That is a powerful statement. That is taking a stand. But this? This is a statement that you can put with the face of a Marvel supervillian and it still works perfectly.
Nike isn’t taking a stand for anything. It wants money, pure and simple. The suits were counting on liberals to heap praises on them and conservatives to damn them, and they did. We were suckered into their brilliant marketing campaign. We are such a gullible and predictable population, and we are letting this culture war kill us. Does anyone want to listen? Does anyone actually want to propose a solution to the systematic injustices Kaepernick is protesting, (while he also makes $30 million)? Cause I do, and if any lawmaker has any suggestions I’m all ears.
Don’t let a billion-dollar corporation play with your convictions. Instead, use those convictions to help make our country better, while at the same time being open to different views of other people who want to make our country better. Don’t just fight for something, fight for something that’s right. Just do it.
In the Thicket 