Posted on 09/07/2018 6:03:15 AM PDT by Kaslin
It is hard to fathom that there really exists a body of public opinion that supports Nike's decision to make former NFL star Colin Kaepernick the center of its new "Believe in something" advertising campaign. This is the fellow who believes in wearing socks depicting cops as pigs and wears a pro-Fidel Castro T-shirt because he believes that under that murderous dictator, Cuba was a better country than his own, perhaps because he believes his country was founded on slavery and the "genocide of Native Americans."
Washington Post sports columnist Barry Svrluga gushed over the ad, saying: "Nike did what the NFL hasn't been able to do: It chose a side. That it happened to be correct is all the better."
The full slogan Nike is unveiling is especially obnoxious when Kaepernick's name is attached to it: "Believe is something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." He's a pampered multimillionaire athlete, and even though his career is all but over, he still somehow commands a contract reportedly worth tens of millions of dollars. There's sacrifice for you. You wonder what the families of fallen police officers are thinking right now.
The inmates are running the asylum. This decision was beyond idiotic, and Nike deserves the punishment it's receiving.
Nike's calculation is that what Kaepernick brings exceeds the money he's being paid, for surely he has a following in America's fractured society. But enough to generate tens of millions of dollars in new sales to balance the books?
Oops. Make that tens of millions plus $3,750,000,000. In one day, Nike lost almost $4 billion in valuation because of this, according to The Wrap.
This decision has backfired so badly it should be made a case study in The Stupidest Marketing Plan Ever Devised.
The public relations mess it has created is one for the books. A new Morning Consult survey of thousands of people showed that Nike's favorability has collapsed. Before the announcement, Nike had a net +69 favorable impression among consumers, which has dropped 34 points to +35 favorable. And get this: "Among younger generations, Nike users, African Americans, and other key demographics, Nike's favorability declined rather than improved." The internet is ablaze in disgust. Actually, it's people's shoes that are being set on fire all over the country and posted on social media.
Worse still, this disaster isn't going to blow over, as Nike's panicked marketing department is surely praying will happen. Every single time the public sees this arrogant, disgraceful ingrate's face on a Nike ad, the determination not to purchase that company's products will only grow.
This is just another day at the office for that mess known as the NFL, once so embraced by the public and today held in disdain. It's everything about it. It's the spoiled players. The cowardly owners. The left-wing broadcasters. And now, with the NFL having signed a 10-year deal with Nike to make it an official sponsor, it's the advertisers. It's full-scale rot.
And as a result, the numbers continue to plummet. Preseason ratings are down yet again. Sports Media Watch reported that NFL preseason viewership was down 9 percent across NBC, CBS, Fox, ESPN and the NFL Network. Strangely, the Cleveland Browns drew a higher audience. Without the Browns games, preseason viewership crashed 18 percent.
Viewers who did bother tuning in saw a lot of empty seats in the stands as well. The Sunday-night game on Aug. 26 featuring the Dallas Cowboys was the team's least-watched broadcast on a network since 2009. A game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals that same day was the least-watched preseason matchup on Fox since 2008.
A recent poll commissioned at the Media Research Center found that 75 percent agreed with the statement "When I watch live sports or entertainment shows on television I am trying to get away from politics and do not want to be bombarded with partisan political messages."
What do you think that 75 percent thinks now? What will those people think every time they see a Nike commercial celebrating this man? Truth is, many won't see that ad, because they'll no longer be watching the NFL.
"Believe in something really offensive. Even if it means sacrificing everything, including your own company. And the NFL, while you're at it" -- that would have been a far more accurate tag line.
Amen!! :D
S.I.C.K.
A mega bucks multinational company like NIKE pushing the communist agenda. It's beyond S.I.C.K.
While at the Academy, this man, Donald McLaughlin, was Mr. Staubach’s good friend.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McLaughlin_Award
He made a sacrifice.
Nike and the NFL are the new McCain. just Die already.
Ultimately, it's really about the billions of young people overseas markets: S American, India & China. If they can increase brand identity to personalize supposed activism against the US and/or authority, it's well worth pissing off mere 150m Americans. As a two-fer, the very people who are reacting against the ad (middle class white Americans) are the very source of disdain any youth marketing campaign would be pointing to for their new customers to "rebel" against.
Genius, actually. Of course, we'll see if the strategy works; there are never any guarantees even for the best laid plans of mice & men.
I agree with you. It’s become obvious that Nike doesn’t want mainstream white folks wearing their gear. I’d think that creates an even worse problem for the NFL than it already had.
Appreciate your letting me know this. Good to know.
So I guess now the final analysis awaits the still undocumented global market you mentioned.
Well see. $4 billion is a lot of money to lose over a three day weekend. And that doesn't take into consideration what's to follow and their financial loss alongside the NFL with their mutual contract. Also the massive shift of perception in their brand has hurt them in ways not yet measurable.
Yes. Agree 100%.
The reason I can make these kinds of predictions is Dunning-Kruger. Those who exhibit your type of emotional attachments don't tend to think analytically. The failure to objectively process information that may or may not correspond with certain beliefs tends to effect many different kinds of decisions.
For example, a few days of market reaction does not equate with program success/failure. Do I need to remind you just how fast the futures markets dropped overnight once Trump was declared the winner? We won't know the true effect of Nike's marketing program until at least 6-12 months. In the short term, we may very well see a drop in EPS, since those most committed will be those who immediately cease buying.
However, regardless of success or failure, the main point is that the Kap campaign wasn't some kind of ill conceived, impulsive vanity choice. Rather, it was the focus of a multi-million dollar, global market research program. My analysis also does not suggest that I'm a Nike supporter; far from it. I know it is probably difficult to separate (political) emotions from business decisions for some, but they really are two separate issues.
lmao. I'm an independently wealthy female from years of incredible success in a variety of fields and highly educated. One of the previous areas of my success is working alongside and synergistically with the most talented, successful, and sought after branding firms in the world.
I have no idea what you are talking about when I peruse what follows your opening odd statement as your writing skills are fraught with horrendously ill defined idiocy which tells me you have no true grasp on what you are thinking or saying.
Those that truly understand what they are saying can articulate it in the most simplest terms.
Good Hunting... from Varmint Al
Absolutely correct you are, my good FRiend.
This is HUGH and SERIES <<
It is!..and “Resist we much!”
Ask Mel.
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