Colin Kaepernick is a like a hemorrhoid for the NFL, i.e., an inflamed asshole that can’t be soothed and won’t go away.
For some reason, Nike decided to hitch their wagon to him.
Yesterday, he dragged them over the cliff.
Nike is yanking a sneaker featuring the "Betsy Ross flag" after Colin Kaepernick said he and others consider the symbol to be offensive https://t.co/eKVtPM6oTA
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) July 1, 2019
The Tweet says it all. Nike was going to make a commemorative pair of sneakers featuring the Betsy Ross flag. Kaepernick said it was a racist and oppressive symbol because it was the flag at the time that America had slavery. Nike canceled the shoe.
Then this happened on the Twitter feed of the Governor of Arizona.
Nike has made its decision, and now we’re making ours. I’ve ordered the Arizona Commerce Authority to withdraw all financial incentive dollars under their discretion that the State was providing for the company to locate here. 7/
— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) July 2, 2019
Arizona’s economy is doing just fine without Nike. We don’t need to suck up to companies that consciously denigrate our nation’s history. 8/
— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) July 2, 2019
And finally, it shouldn’t take a controversy over a shoe for our kids to know who Betsy Ross is. A founding mother. Her story should be taught in all American schools. In the meantime, it’s worth googling her. 9/9
— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) July 2, 2019
According to Fox News:
Nike planned to build a massive manufacturing plant in Goodyear, investing $184.5 million, according to ABC 15. The plant reportedly was going to create more than 500 jobs.
Goodyear agreed to waive nearly $1 million in plan review and permit fees to bring the plant into the city, The Arizona Republic reported. The city also planned to reimburse Nike $1 million for the jobs the company was set on creating.
That’s not as bad as Delta getting hit with $40 million in fuel taxes for ending their discount with the NRA, but it’s still something.
Here is what I think should happen, honestly and sincerely.
This needs to come down to the share holders. These companies react to the radical Left on social media because those voices are loud and annoying. What happens is this annoys the majority of moderate Americans who don’t want companies involved in politics, preening and preaching to them.
The company suffers financially.
What shareholders need to do is start hitting the executives who make these hasty decisions with Breach of Fiduciary Duty suits. If I were a Nike shareholder, I’d be demanding that the Nike executive management team pay for the loss of those tax incentives straight out of their salaries so it doesn’t impact the company’s profits. Management can go woke on their own dime.
I can’t see any other way to make these business leaders understand that trying to appease the 5% of shrieking Leftists on Twitter makes the rest of the nation not want to buy their stuff.
Wasn’t there a Nike boycott last year that drove Nike profits up over 30%?
New Balance makes some of their shoes here in the US. Only Some of them, I think their mass market shoes are made overseas like every other shoe company?
Correct. The sneakers they have made in the U.S. are the more expensive models. I’ve got a pair of cheaper ones, I think they were made in Vietnam. But hey, at least NB isn’t Nike.
Somewhat self-serving since I’m a contractor on an indefinite contract to work for the company… But, can I interest you all in a nice new pair of Adidas?
Nike has got Colin Kaepernick whinging about shoes on Twitter and Michael Jordan who they haul out of cryogenic storage every few years to rebuild the damage to their brand their other celebrity spokesmen do.
Meanwhile, Adidas has Kanye West sitting in the Oval Office discussing the importance of ending victim mentality and his wife Kim Kardashian got so invested in her prison reform spokeswoman role that she decided to start reading law in order to take the bar exam.
Just sayin’
You are hanging on the wrong STAR
They made an insane, ultra racist liberal the spokesman and face of their company, I’m not sure what they expected to happen in the long run. It’s cool though, they cynically swept up all those inner city dollars in the beginning. Totally worth it, we can see.
Nike is run by idiots.
The shoes were already made. Are they actually going to trash thousands of shoes because some moron threw a hissy fit?. Imagine the environmental impact of disposing of thousands (tens of thousands?) of shoes. The waste, the Carbon Footprint!
All for Some idiot that is divisive and (in)famous for not even liking the country where you do a majority of your business. The country that made you Billions of Dollars.
Nike should have taken the high road, “Mr. Kapernick, if you object so strongly to these shoes, we will of course honor your wishes and let you out of your promotional contract.”
“Or you can STFD and STFU!”