Kaepernick as the new face of Nike

Colin Kaepernick was a former american football player who played for the San Francisco 49ers. Kaepernick's career drastically changed after he protested by kneeling during the national anthem.  The quarterback refused to stand because he wasn't going to support a country that oppresses people of colour. America was constantly displaying systemic racism towards minorities and this triggered Kaepernick to protest. No team in the NFL wanted to sign him after the entire situation. 

After the entire fiasco, Nike decided to create an ad campaign with Colin Kaepernick as their new face. The ad contains a photo of Kaepernick along with the quote "Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything". The advertisement stirred up a lot of controversy and divided America.

Many Americans praised his actions and graciously supported him. However, due to the disapproval of President Trump, many supporters protested by boycotting Nike. Trump describe the situation as disrespectful and called out Kaepernick on many occasions.  Supporters even went a step further and started burning Nike products to show how much they didn't approve of the campaign.  Why would someone spend so much money on a product and destroy it in a matter of minutes? How far are people willing to go in order to get their point across?

Although the campaign received a great amount of backlash, this business move made by Nike was very beneficial in the end. The company gained major publicity for supporting Kaepernick's protest and showed how they are a company that will take political stands. Nike gained a 31% increase in sales after recruiting Kaepernick, overall earning about $6 billion in total.

This decision made by Nike was a very risky move that did get a lot of backlash. Despite all of the hate the ad got, Nike didn't back down. They supported something they believed in, so not only did they make profit, they were able to support victims of racial injustice. Fighting back the President does not happen very often, and Nike was willing to raise awareness for the cause.

Did this ad campaign affect me? Personally, no. However, I really admire what Colin Kaepernick did and it really makes me think about people who aren't treated equally. People like Colin should be appreciated, and the fact Nike did this.. is really cool in my opinion. In conclusion, I believe Nike did it mostly to support the situation over profits. They too, believed in something and made a huge risk.