Conservatives Are Literally Setting Their Shoes on Fire to Protest Nike’s Latest Ad Campaign
Among the athletes pictured in Nike’s new “Just Do It” ad campaign is former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, a player widely known for kneeling during the national anthem at NFL games in protest of police brutality. His kneeling has drawn the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump and other conservatives who’ve now decided to protest Nike by destroying their already purchased Nike products in a #BoycottNike campaign.
The #BoycottNike campaign on social media features videos of people who’ve chosen to protest Nike by burning their sneakers or cutting the Nike swoosh logo out of their socks.
The ridiculous part of this Nike protest is that these people have already purchased these Nike products with their hard-earned cash. That is, these #BoycottNike videos won’t affect Nike’s bottom line and only draw more attention to their product and ad campaign as a result.
Here are a few posts from the #BoycottNike protest:
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
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
.@Nike how you going to endorse @Kaepernick7 a person that advertises socks with cops portrayed as pigs, a person that hasn’t played NFL for 2 years, well it’s good I never really spent money on your brand but to the money I did, here they are pic.twitter.com/oHFVgDnR4K
— Sebastian Blanco 🇺🇸 (@thasaviorBlanco) September 3, 2018
.@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
People have started to mock these conservatives by asking why they don’t simply donate their Nike products to former military service members, particularly when they claim to adamantly support the American flag and the military so much.
One Twitter user mocked #BoycottNike by pretending to burn his Nike sneakers while wearing them.
i am in the hospital pic.twitter.com/b9JmlE77EQ
— Phil Braun (@playazball) September 4, 2018
But no matter how many conservatives burn their Nike gear online, Nike has already scored big with the ad.
The company’s campaign was trending heavily on social media on Monday, and to be honest, these disgruntled conservatives aren’t Nike’s target demographic anyway. The company mostly targets teens living in urban city centers like New York and Los Angeles.
Even before the protest began, Nike had already planned a donation to Kaepernick’s nonprofit, the Know Your Rights Camp, which seeks to “raise awareness on higher education, self empowerment and instruction to properly interact with law enforcement in various scenarios.”
