On September 3rd Nike debuted their campaign featuring the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, who started the wave of NFL national anthem protests against racial inequality last year. This ad is one of the most controversial ads released in the last couple months. Despite the huge outrage upon release of this ad, Nike has seen a 31% increase in online sales, according to one outside estimate.
Nikes ad starts off with a skateboarder falling off a rail, a child with no legs on a wrestling mat, and African-American boy running down a dirt road, a young shadowboxing woman wearing hijab, a surfer, a pop warner football game and a blond girl playing high school football against boys. This was essentially a huge risk for Nike because of the consumers they might lose in their anger over this topic. The main reason that Nike decided to take a risk like this was for their goal of bringing together and entire generation of consumers who are essentially up for grabs at a moment where the lines between culture, politics and activism are as clear as mud. Every one of the images that were included in the ad connects to the overall message of being different, of overcoming some type of obstacle or stereotype, which fits in well with why Kaepernick is here in the first place rather than continuing playing as quarterback in the NFL.
The irony that surrounds this ad is if you completely removed Kaepernick out of the ad, there is absolutely nothing controversial about the images or words that are used or said within the ad. “Don’t ask if your dreams are crazy; ask if they’re crazy enough” is a quote specifically from Kaepernick within the ad, this quote feels like it could apply to any Nike ad campaign, in my opinion which is essentially a direct link to “Just Do It” which is Nike’s original campaign message. Nike will continue to count on this ad reaching this large market of consumers that are growing up in a confusing politically active era.
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