Nike revealed yesterday that Colin Kaepernick - the out-of-work NFL quarterback who generated controversy for kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice and police brutality - would be one of the faces of its 30th anniversary "Just Do It" campaign.
"Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything," read a teaser for an ad Kaepernick tweeted.
Some Kaepernick critics took that to mean sacrificing their Nike products.
Immediately, some people began posting pictures of socks and shoes being defaced or destroyed, or declaring they would be soon switching allegiances to Adidas, Brooks or Converse. (Nevermind that Nike owns Converse.)
Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/SRWkMIDdaO
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 3, 2018
Country star John Rich showed off a pair of Nike logos that had been removed from his soundman's socks.
Video of a pair of shoes being burned went viral.
The anti-Nike puns came next.
"Just Don't," posted one Instagram user.
"Just Blew It," posted another.
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
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
President Donald Trump has been persistently critical of NFL players protesting during the anthem, a movement Kaepernick started.
In an interview with Fox News last year, Trump told Sean Hannity he thought Kaepernick should have been suspended after his first protest.
"I watched Colin Kaepernick, and I thought it was terrible, and then it got bigger and bigger and started mushrooming, and frankly the NFL should have suspended him for one game, and he would have never done it again," Trump told Hannity, to cheers from a live audience watching the interview.
So far the President Trump has yet to weigh in on Nike's new campaign.
But the hashtag #NikeBoycott was trending on Twitter.
In pre-market trading yesterday, Nike stock was down nearly 2.3 percent.
My name is #Mustard and I stand for the #flag and to honer @bigandrich and their Soundman & the Prresident I am going to burn my #Nike shoes!!!!!!!!!๐บ๐ธ๐บ๐ธ๐ฅ๐ฅ pic.twitter.com/MLv6uwGLsv
— Phil Braun (@playazball) September 4, 2018
ESPN reporter Darren Rovell, who broke the news yesterday, reported Nike's new "Just Do It" campaign would target 15- to 17-year-old teenagers and also include professional athletes Odell Beckham Jr., Shaquem Griffin, Lacey Baker, Serena Williams and LeBron James. Rovell tweeted Tuesday that the NFL did not respond to a request for comment on Nike's decision. In March, Nike and the NFL announced they had extended their longtime partnership for game apparel until 2028.
The irony of people discarding or defacing their (likely expensive) Nike merchandise to protest something they disagreed with was not lost on those who supported Kaepernick and his protests. Many poked fun at the newly declared boycott, even filming satirical videos of themselves "destroying" their own Nike gear in ludicrous ways. Others vowed to wear their Nike apparel more frequently or to go out and buy Nike sports gear to make up for the boycott attempt.