President Trump says Nike should have expected the boycotts, angry tweets and shoe-burning videos that followed its introduction of an ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, the former NFL quarterback who sparked a nationwide controversy by kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality.
Chances are, it did. The sportswear-maker, a veteran in the art of designing advertisements with sometimes-provocative athletes, gained millions of dollars of free news coverage, not to mention social media exposure. Released just days before the start of the 2018 NFL season, the ad is designed to appeal to millennials, the largest generation in U.S. history and one surveys have shown makes links purchases to company values.
The stock, which tumbled 3 percent in New York trading on Tuesday, pared some of the losses on Wednesday, reaching as high as $80.24 despite the #BoycottNike campaign on Twitter, and Trump’s criticism.
“Just like the NFL, whose ratings have gone WAY DOWN, Nike is getting absolutely killed with anger and boycotts. I wonder if they had any idea that it would be this way? As far as the NFL is concerned, I just find it hard to watch, and always will, until they stand for the FLAG!” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
[Opinion: Dear Nike: Colin Kaepernick didn’t sacrifice ‘everything,’ and it wasn’t for a good cause]
Just like the NFL, whose ratings have gone WAY DOWN, Nike is getting absolutely killed with anger and boycotts. I wonder if they had any idea that it would be this way? As far as the NFL is concerned, I just find it hard to watch, and always will, until they stand for the FLAG!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 5, 2018
The president has long condemned the protest, which spread throughout the NFL, prompting owners to keep players who wouldn’t stand for the pre-game national anthem in the locker rooms until it ended.
Trump, who competed with the NFL when he owned a team in the now-defunct U.S. Football League, told the Daily Caller on Tuesday that Nike has the right to say what it chooses, even though he disagrees.
“I think it’s a terrible message. Nike is a tenant of mine. They pay a lot of rent,” Trump said, referring to Niketown New York on 57th Street, adjacent to Trump Tower, where the president’s private residence is located. Nike said late last year it would leave the site for a new facility on West 52nd Street.
The Kaepernick ad isn’t the first time a Nike ad has sparked controversy. A 2013 campaign with Tiger Woods, who was then rebounding after a 2010 divorce from Swedish model Elina Nordegren and intense media coverage of extramarital affairs, used the slogan, “Winning takes care of everything.”
This year, when the French Open banned catsuits like the Nike garment that tennis star Serena Williams wore in May, the company responded with a Twitter post. “You can take the superhero out of her costume, but you can never take away her superpowers,” the company said, a reference to Williams’ statement that wearing the suit made her feel like a superhero.
“NIke plays the long game,” said Simeon Siegel, an analyst with Nomura Instinet who has a buy rating on the stock. “They are, I would argue, one of the best product companies in the world, but I would argue they are also one of the best marketing companies in the world. They are critically focused and very aware that every shoe they sell is tied to perception of the brand.”
With a roster of athlete endorsers who present varying degrees of risk, the firm makes each marketing decision “with a lot of calculus and precision,” Siegel said. “They’ve always been ones to take risks rather than toe the line.”
