NIKE’S MISTAKE

Is Colin Kaepernick A Modern Day Civil Rights Hero?

Gerald Lombardo
Sep 7, 2018 · 3 min read
Colin Kaepernick Nike Ad (Photo: Nike)

Nike has been catching a lot of flak recently for it’s controversial ad (below) featuring Colin Kaepernick, who rose to prominence last year for kneeling in protest during the playing of the National Anthem.

Nike’s Colin Kaepernick TV Spot

I’m not going to get into the ethics of whether it’s right or wrong to kneel during the National Anthem — not again. I’ve already written about that here. Instead, what I would like to address are my beliefs that 1) Nike made a mistake with this ad, and that 2) Colin Kaepernick is not Civil Rights Hero.


Nike

The error that Nike made with this advertising campaign is that they mistook people’s acceptance of Colin Kaepernick for their support of him.

Most reasonable Americans have slowly came around to the idea that kneeling during the National Anthem is (technically) a legitimate form of peaceful protest. But many of those same Americans are still somewhat bothered by it. They accept the fact that Kaepernick is within his rights to kneel in protest during the National Anthem, but they aren’t happy about it. Nike, however, seems to believe that just because people have (reluctantly) accepted Kaepernick’s actions that it means they support him/his actions. They don’t. And the last thing they want to see is Kaepernick getting a multi-million dollar endorsement deal.

Nike executives made a serious miscalculation. A miscalculation which was probably pretty easy to make considering the fact that the media has been completely out-of-touch with the American public on this particular issue.

The Kaepernick-Anthem controversy was one of the few times that FOX News was more in line with the average American’s sentiment (not just the conservative-Republican sentiment) than was the rest of the mainstream media. If you only watched CNN or NBC you could easily end up thinking that on-average Americans actually supported Kaepernick, and that only hateful Trumpeters (aka Trump-supporters) were against him. This, however, is far from true.


Colin Kaepernick

The minority of people who do support Kaepernick, though, do so quite adamantly. I’ve heard some of Kaepernick’s supporters talk about him like he’s a modern day civil rights hero. Absurd.

In spite of what the ad says, Kaepernick didn’t sacrifice everything. His career was already in shambles when he started kneeling during the Anthem. If, in fact, he still had the potential to be a starting QB in the NFL there would be teams lining up to sign him, controversial or not.

When was the last time you saw true civil rights hero like MLK or Gandhi with a corporate endorsement? Never. My point is that to Nike executives Kaepernick’s action appeared to be in the mainstream. But that’s because of the severe Liberal-bend (and the cowardly fear of appearing racist) in most of the reporting that has been done on Kaepernick. Nike is not in the business of losing money. They created this ad campaign, not because they are interested in the Civil Rights of black people, but because they thought it was a fashionable and edgy thing to do.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that Kaepernick’s actions are a complete distraction. They serve only to hurt the people he claims to be trying to help. Most American’s are on board with the idea that police brutality against black people exists, and that needs to stop. That train had left the station long before Colin Kaepernick. The outrage against U.S. Law Enforcement began, in large part, after a number of videos began appearing on social media that showed the police abusing their power and behaving terribly.

Instead of shining a light on real issues Kaepernick’s actions have turned the conversation into one about supporting the military, being disrespectful, etc. It’s competently counter-productive to his alleged cause. And if you don’t believe me answer this: What tangible changes have been made as a result of Kaepernick’s actions? And do not say “awareness has been raised” because, as mentioned, awareness was rising way before Kaepernick came around. Has there been 1 piece of legislation drafted because of Kaepernick? Has there been 1 change in NFL policy? 1 tangible difference? No.

Calling Colin Kaepernick a civil rights hero is an insult to those who have actually sacrificed everything because they believed in something.

Gerald Lombardo

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