In writing this blog, I decided I would tackle current hot-button topics involving sports and social issues. Two weeks ago, in my first attempt at doing that, I took on the subject of some NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. The controversy began a couple of years ago when the practice was initiated by then-San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback Colin Kaepernick. To recap what occurred, Kaepernick, who is bi-racial and was adopted and raised by white parents, said he was taking a knee during the anthem to protest police brutality and racial inequality in the United States. As we all know, his actions sparked a firestorm of controversy…not just because of his beliefs, but because of his chosen way of expressing those beliefs.
I will be the first one to admit that I think Kaepernick’s portrayal of things in this country are not very well informed and inaccurate in many respects and I don’t believe his method of expressing his thoughts “on company time” was the right thing to do. The US Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, but that right doesn’t necessarily extend to your time on the clock at work, when you can possibly hurt the bottom line of the business you work for with grandstanding about an issue you have a personal passion for. In other words, while I respect his right to voice his opinions, he should have done so on his own time. Doing it while representing the 49ers and the NFL helped cost him a job in the league, along with the fact that he’s no longer a very productive player. Kaepernick has since responded by suing the NFL, claiming the league and its teams colluded against hiring him after he was cut by the Niners because of his personal beliefs. This announced fan of Fidel Castro, who once warmed up before a game by wearing socks depicting police officers as pigs, has forgotten something important…The NFL and its teams are private businesses and, as such, are under no requirement to hire anybody. If they believe that signing Kaepernick will adversely affect their profits (NFL attendance was down by 10% last year and TV viewership was also down), in this country, they are not legally forced to give a less-skilled player with controversial beliefs a job.
So, along comes athletic apparel giant Nike, who has just kicked off the marketing campaign for the 30-year anniversary of its popular “Just Do it” slogan by including Colin Kaepernick as one of the faces of that effort. Nike’s ad featuring Kaepernick is a close-up black and white photo of his face with the words “Believe in something. Even if it costs you everything” written on it. Really Nike? I mean…Really? Please explain to us exactly what Colin Kaepernick has given up. He is said to have grown up in a warm and positive family environment, went to college for free because he was good at playing a sport and then spent six years in the NFL, which by one estimate I read, provided him with the base to help him build a personal fortune of $61 million. Nike is also now paying him millions to be a part of its new marketing campaign. Yep, I really feel sorry for this man who lives a lifestyle that 99% of us in this country can only dream about. Folks, the struggle is real!
Let’s now compare Kaepernick to true civil rights’ icons like Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, who were assassinated for spearheading efforts to provide those of color with equal rights and whose actions led to several important and needed reforms in this country. Go look at the row after row of white crosses and Stars of David in fields near the beaches of Normandy, France where thousands of soldiers died fighting for a cause that they believed in…ensuring the freedoms of a lot of people they never knew. Or how about the single parents out there who have to hold multiple jobs to make sure their children have food on the table and decent clothes to wear. Those are real examples of sacrifice…people who believe in something so much, that they are willing to give up everything they have for those beliefs…including, in some cases, their very lives. So Nike, don’t lecture us about the alleged sacrifices of a multi-millionaire who simply doesn’t get to play football any more. It’s offensive to those of us who see the real struggles of people who quietly go out there everyday and make a real difference in this country and on the planet.
Nike’s decision to use Kaepernick as a spokesman also rates, at best, as a pretty questionable marketing strategy. Even if 50% of the country agrees with Kaepernick (an estimate that is probably too high), the company has just angered the other 50% of Americans who likely respond by no longer spending money on its products. Nike’s stock dropped 2% on Tuesday when the Kaepernick ad was released, costing it an estimated $2.6 billion dollars. While I am sure company officials are confident of a financial rebound in the long run, I am not so sure. Americans have long memories as evidenced by the fact that many of them who swore off the NFL because of Kaepernick and the other anthem kneelers continue to boycott the league. This Summer I tuned-in to a handful of telecasts of some NFL preseason games just to check on their attendance. In many cases, the optics didn’t look very good. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens during the regular season. However, people in this nation have always used their wallets to let companies know what they think of their business decisions and have made them pay for those decisions they didn’t like. Remember the “New Coke”?
I suspect, in time, Nike will find out what the NFL, the San Francisco 49ers and the other teams already know about Colin Kaepernick…that he’s generally about as well-liked as a rattlesnake in a moving car and that level of unpopularity makes him a business liability. At that point, Nike officials will probably do what those other entities did…dump him and move on, but not before paying him millions of dollars to help their company lose billions. I guess we’ll see how much Nike is willing to sacrifice for what it believes in.
Sports On The Edge 