Colin Kaepernick. You’ve probably heard this name countless times within the past 72 hours, mixed in with the phrases “Nike” and “protest”. If you haven’t heard of Colin Kaepernick, here’s a little backstory: during the 2016 football season, the then-quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers began taking a knee during the National Anthem to peacefully protest racial injustices occurring in the United States. Some players followed suit, while others continued to stand during the pregame activities. This raised some eyebrows across the country, and it quickly became a hot topic. Whether or not you were a football fan, it was nearly impossible to escape what was happening on the field.
As for recent events, on September 4th, 2018, Nike debuted ads to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their “Just Do It” campaign, one of which featured Kaepernick. Superimposed over an image of his face is text that reads “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.” The Internet had a field day over the new ad campaign; just in time for the 2018 season, Kaepernick was becoming a popular discussion point once again. Many users took to social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, to express disdain, as images of destroyed Nike apparel flooded timelines and news feeds. People began cutting the Nike logo off of their clothing and burning any Nike shoes they owned as a way to “protest” against the new ad campaign. While the idea is definitely there, many supporters of Kaepernick and the campaign raised an important question: How does this affect Nike’s sales? If these people have already purchased the apparel, and Nike has their money, how is destroying it going to affect the company in any way?
According to a recent CNBC article, Nike ran the numbers and discovered that 60% of their revenue comes from outside North America. Many of these countries already disagree with the way that the United States handles its race issues, so the new ads may actually boost sales in these areas. In addition, Nike has built such a strong reputation over the years in it’s home country that it may not even feel the affects of these “protests” displayed on social media. This brand loyalty, both foreign and domestic, means that there is an inelastic demand for their products. In other words, people are going to buy Nike no matter what. Will there be people who refuse to ever buy from the company again? Of course. Will there be people who completely ignore the marketing aspect and continue to purchase products they enjoy? Definitely. Had a smaller, lesser-known company made the same bold move, they most likely would have fallen, or at least had to increase prices to cover the losses incurred. However, the sheer volume of Nike’s sales allows them to stabilize their prices without causing any major damage to revenue.
Whether or not the ads increase Nike’s revenue, they are definitely giving the brand extra exposure online. Tons of people, whether they follow sports or not, are talking about the company, allowing it to reach a much broader audience. Making Colin Kaepernick the face of the anniversary campaign was a bold strategy for Nike, and from a marketing standpoint I think it’s going to pay off for them in the long run.
Sport Spiels 
Cheyenne,
I thought your article was great and extremely interesting. The fact that Nike chose to put Kaepernick on their ad was a bold move, but at the same time I feel with putting him in the ad, they are truly standing for what message they are trying to convey. The took a risky step in putting him on their but it shows they back up what they are trying to say as well. As for their revenue being affected it may have a slight decrease on their profit, but at the same time like you said Nike is such a huge company, with the majority of customers outside of North America, so therefor I do not think much fluctuation in decreasing will be made. Those who wear Nike probably do not care much about the Kaepernick ad and those who do will most likely get over it as time goes on and continue to buy the brand, but do you think as people continue to talk about this issue online that a bigger decrease in revenue will occur? If so, do you think Nike will come out and say something about how people are reacting?
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Amanda,
I think all the talk of Nike online will only increase traffic to their website (and in-store sales). Whether people are saying good or bad things, they are still talking about the brand and giving it free publicity. In addition, some people may step up and buy more Nike products to show their support. However, if the company were to suffer major losses due to their campaign, I can definitely see them having some sort of press release to combat the issue. Whether this would be a formal statement or some sort of follow-up ad series (maybe featuring U.S. Veterans, since that is the hot topic at hand?), Nike seems to have a strong enough marketing team to handle issues like this, and I assume they have already considered the consequences of taking such a bold step.
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