HAS NIKE GONE TOO FAR: THE COLIN KAEPERNICK ADVERTISEMENT

Authors

  • Steven Cox Queens University of Charlotte
  • Brad Brooks Queens University of Charlotte
  • Robert Lyons, Jr North Carolina A&T State Univ.

Keywords:

advertising, controversy, celebrity

Abstract

As the 2018 National Football League (NFL) season began, Nike introduced an ad campaign featuring a particularly polarizing recent NFL quarterback, Colin Kaepernick.  As a player two years earlier, Kaepernick had knelt as the US national anthem was played before his team’s games as a way of protesting the perceived unfair treatment of African-Americans by US police.  The use of a polarizing former player within its ad led to polarizing reactions from consumers toward the Nike brand.  This case highlights the risks to brand sales and brand equity in utilizing a controversial and/or divisive advertising and promotional campaign.  The situation highlights how the use of a spokesperson who generates positive response (both emotional and cognitive) in some consumers but negative responses in others can put the brand in a high risk and (potentially) high reward situation. 

Image of the Journal cover

Downloads

Published

2024-01-27

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 1 (2021)

Section

Cases

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).