Looks like those boycotts didn’t work very well then
Sad news for anybody who decided to set fire to their Jordans in the wake of Colin Kaepernick becoming the face of Nike, the company’s market value has surged by nearly $6 billion (£4.58bn) since the company began the campaign.
CBS News reports that although the company initially tumbled more than three per cent when the former NFL quarterback was unveiled, Nike’s value has grown in the weeks following the campaign’s launch.
This has been helped by strong sales of Nike’s products, which grew by 31% in the bank holiday weekend after the ad launched and, as reported by Reuters reported last week, have grown by 61 per cent in total in the weeks following.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq2CvmgoO7I
“[Nike’s] new ‘Just Do It’ ad campaign with Colin Kaepernick was a stroke of genius,” said Camilo Lyon, an analyst with financial services company Canaccord Genuity, according to Reuters. “This premeditated move was another subtle but significant sign of Nike’s strength and confidence in its position in the marketplace.”
Kaepernick began taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem, in protest of police brutality and racial injustice in the US in August 2016. The protest then spread through the NFL and into other sports, with many other athletes following his lead.
President Donald Trump has been among the outspoken critics of the decision by Nike to sign Kaepernick. “Just like the NFL, whose ratings have gone WAY DOWN, Nike is getting absolutely killed with anger and boycotts,” the president tweeted following the ad’s launch.
