Americans everywhere are continuing to lose their minds over a new Nike ad featuring former professional football player and current social activist Colin Kaepernick.
Current Events
Since taking a knee during The National Anthem before NFL games in protest of police brutality toward black men, Kaepernick has been heavily maligned and blackballed from the sport he loves (and is so very good at). The fact that Kaepernick’s decision to take a knee has never been in protest of patriotism or the flag itself has still not registered in the minds of ignorant Americans who continue calling his actions anti-military and unpatriotic. Well, enter Nike with an emotional ad that features the football star encouraging Americans to “believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything.”
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BREAKING: Nike had been paying Colin Kaepernick all along, waiting for the right moment. That moment is now, as he becomes the face of the company’s 30th anniversary of the “Just Do It” campaign. pic.twitter.com/uccpDStbq5 — Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 3, 2018
In keeping with the Trump-brand of modern divisiveness and in complete dismissal of the right to freedom of speech, Americans everywhere have begun berating Nike for daring to feature Colin Kaepernick in anything and to ignore the lead of others who have blackballed him from everything. These folks have even gone so far as to create YouTube videos of them literally burning their expensive Nike gear in what they believe to be a protest of the popular sportswear company.
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Unfortunately, what these likely Trump-loving geniuses haven’t yet figured out is that you can’t actually protest a company by destroying merchandise you’ve already purchased. Burning items you already own is only hurting yourself and not Nike since they’ve already collected your cash.
Still, common sense hasn’t corked the hatred toward Nike and toward a man who loves his country but simply wants to bring attention to the killing of black men at the hands of police.
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.@Nike Due to your support of C.K. in your coming adds, I as an American can no longer support your company. #boycottNike #IStandForOurFlag pic.twitter.com/5JxSMD8SSO
— AlterAtYeshiva (@alteratyeshiva) September 4, 2018
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Our Soundman just cut the Nike swoosh off his socks. Former marine. Get ready @Nike multiply that by the millions. pic.twitter.com/h8kj6RXe7j
— John Rich (@johnrich) September 3, 2018
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First the @NFL forces me to choose between my favorite sport and my country. I chose country. Then @Nike forces me to choose between my favorite shoes and my country. Since when did the American Flag and the National Anthem become offensive? pic.twitter.com/4CVQdTHUH4
— Sean Clancy (@sclancy79) September 3, 2018
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These pictures of people cutting the Nike logo off clothes THEY ALREADY PAID for is really hilarious pic.twitter.com/u6Ggxpwosb
— Dominiqué (@domuhhneek) September 3, 2018
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DJ, I’ll defer to you and your other readers on this (the level of outrage that’s happening) because honestly, other than listening to Stephen A. Smith’s take on it, I haven’t paid very much attention to it since the news broke a few days ago.
I will say this – from what little I’ve seen and heard thus far, the outrage doesn’t appear to be much of anything. But I could be wrong(?)
And on a related note, a right-winger writes:
“Let’s Face It: Conservatives Are Not A Majority”
The news of Colin Kaepernick’s endorsement deal with Nike came as shock to conservatives. It seemed that Kaepernick was a has-been after his departure from the NFL, but suddenly he’s back with a lucrative deal to be the face of Nike. That should be a wake-up call that conservatives do not represent a majority of Americans.
If conservatives were a majority, then selecting the man whose claim to fame lies in taking a knee during the National Anthem as a spokesman would be an act of corporate suicide. In that case, one would expect that the stock would tank and a meaningful boycott would occur. And that’s exactly what many conservative news outlets were reporting.
The truth is a little different.
The deal was announced on Sept. 3. Nike stock closed on the previous day at $82.20 per share. By the close of trading on Sept. 4, Nike stock had indeed plunged… all the way to $79.60, a loss of a little over three percent. On Wednesday, the stock closed just under $79.92, not far under the 52-week high of $83.68. Trading in Nike was much higher than is the norm. 18,548,800 shares changed hands on Tuesday as opposed to an average volume of 7,073,191.
Nike’s stock declined, but it is only slightly off from prior to the announcement. There were a lot of sellers, but there were also a lot of buyers. That observation says a lot about American politics in general.
What’s more, most conservatives have not heard that Nike received an estimated $43 million in media exposure after the rollout of Kaepernick’s ad campaign. Bloomberg reports that almost half of the exposure was positive. Less than a quarter of the media coverage was negative. […] – David Thorton, writer at Erick Erickson’s right-wing site, The Resurgent.
Also there’s this…..
Black Cops Tell National Police Organization: Nah, Bruh. We Support Kaepernick
Excerpt:
One day after a national organization representing police groups across America called for its members to boycott Nike for its support of Colin Kaepernick, a group of black police officers responded by telling the apparel company that they will keep copping the new Nikes.
On Tuesday, the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO), a collection of police unions and groups from across the United States, released a newsletter telling its members across the country to boycott Nike, according to Fox Carolina. The collection of uniformed snowflakes then sent a letter to Nike’s President and CEO whining about the company’s decision to use Kaepernick as the face of its campaign celebrating 30 years of “Just Do It.”
After the letter was made public, the National Black Police Association made clear that they should not be included in the 241,000 police officers on whose “behalf” the NAPO claimed to speak, the Intercept reports.
Basically, the letter, which can be read here, says: “Nah bruh. That’s just the white dudes.”
“It is with great dismay that we were made aware of a letter that you received from the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO) regarding the use of Colin Kaepernick in your ‘Just Do It’ advertising campaign,” the letter begins. “The National Black Police Asociation (NBPA) is not in agreement on this matter and we strongly condemn the call for police officers and their families to boycott Nike and its products.” – Michael Harriot, writer at The Root
These people are stupid hipocrites. If they are so patriotic where were they when Trump was disrespecting John Mccain? Or when Trump skipped military service because he had a rich daddy. I think DJ talked about this before but Tim Tebow used to kneel to protest abortion but nobody said anything because he is white. Now these dumb arses are burning their own clothes for no reason. I tell you this country is going backwards.