A win, that is, as in many $$$ signs and social consciousness. Nike just announced the online sales of its products have increased 65% since it came out with its marketing campaign this year making Colin Kaepernik the face of its ten-year celebration logo–JUST DO IT! It was a bold and controversial decision. Many people thought it was a mistake and that Nike would suffer financially for it.
In case you have been absent from this planet lately, and thus didn’t know, Colin Kaepernik bowed a knee three years ago in an NFL football game during the playing of the national anthem, instead of standing, in protest to unfair treatment of minorities, especially blacks. A very high percentage of NFL players are black, including Colin. Colin Kaepernik is a Christian who is involved in charity. He believes in using his high profile as a prominent professional athlete to make a positive difference in the world. That fits Nike’s personna, though it’s ironic that the word nike is the name of a pagan god.
Right after Kaepernik did that, which was nationally televised, it drew the ire of President Donald Trump, claiming it was unpatriotic. In a speech, he said such NFL players should be fired. He even yelled, “Get that son of bitch off the field, right now, out, he’s fired. HE’S FIRED!” See my second post after this happened: “Mother Teresa Says to Trump–‘Guess I’m a Proud Bitch.'”
It threw the NFL into a tizzy. So far, the NFL’s tentative ruling has been that players can so demonstrate by merely staying in the locker room until the playing of the national anthem is finished, and if any players do bow the knee again, team owners have the right to penalize them with fines or whatever. Of course, the NFL was worried about how such activities would affect their bottom money line.
A lot of these NFL team owners are like Donald Trump–old white guys. People who so criticized Kaepernik and other players for taking a knee are themselves standing still while the world is passing them by. And its looks like Nike is proving it.
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