Barber: Celebrate Colin Kaepernick, not Nike

Nike has tapped Colin Kaepernick as one of the faces of its newest “Just Do It” campaign, and that’s amazing. But can we celebrate Kaepernick’s return to the public eye, without celebrating Nike?

Yes. Yes, we can.

There are a couple of highly positive aspects to this marketing venture, which will help to ring in the 30th anniversary of the original “Just Do It” campaign, and will also feature the likes of LeBron James and Serena Williams. The most obvious is that it will put some cash into Colin Kaepernick’s hands.

How much? We’re not sure yet. Yahoo’s Charles Robinson reported that this is a “star” deal that will include branded Kaepernick merchandise like shoes and shirts, and will pay the former 49ers quarterback “millions per year” plus royalties. Safe to say this will be a lucrative contract for Kaepernick.

Thumbs up. This guy puts his money to good use.

Last January, Kaepernick fulfilled his pledge to donate ?$1 million to charity. The recipients of this largesse were multiple and varied. A few examples: Kaepernick gave $25,000 to the organization Just Cause to pay for tenants-rights counseling services for black, Latino and working-class families who had been displaced or evicted in the Bay Area. He gave $25,000 to the Center for Reproductive Rights, partly for an emergency litigation fund in defense of women’s rights. He gave $25,000 to the American Friends Service Committee, most of which would cover behavioral health treatment for people who have been incarcerated.

On and on it went. And it added up to a cool million. Remember that Kaepernick did all of this while being shunned by NFL teams for his public, on-field protests of police violence and discrimination. (I won’t say he was “conspired against”; I’ll let the courts settle that terminology in Kaepernick’s collusion case against the league.) We know now that Nike was paying Kaepernick all along, basically keeping him on retainer. But it’s unlikely that income fully bankrolled his donations.

So if the “Just Do It” advertisements can fund more Kap contributions, get the checks in the mail ASAP. Lord knows the Buffalo Bills won’t be paying Kaepernick. They have Nathan Peterman to serve as their starting quarterback.

All the same, don’t believe for a minute that Nike’s deal with Kaepernick is evidence of the company’s humanity or social conscience. Because Nike has no humanity or social conscience.

I’m not saying the apparel company is evil. I’m saying that like most corporations, it is amoral. It doesn’t know “right” or “wrong” any more than a sea cucumber knows man coverage from a two-deep zone. Remember when Charles Barkley famously declared, “I am not a role model”? It was in a Nike ad. And it was a fairly pure expression of the corporate mindset.

The decisions of Nike’s leaders are based purely on the bottom line. They always have been, and likely always will be.

Some observers framed the timing of the Nike-Kaepernick like this: The company paid the quarterback for two years, biding its time as it figured out how best to deploy him. I would guess it was more like this: Nike licked its proverbial finger and stuck it into the air, gauging the shifting winds for two years until it had reason to believe that Kaepernick would be an appealing partner.

And that’s the truly encouraging thing about Kaepernick’s face going up on billboards all over the country (including one in San Francisco’s Union Square). It means that Nike believes it can make money off Colin Kaepernick’s image.

That’s a stunning development in the current political/cultural climate. Kaepernick’s self-proclaimed enemies have done everything they could to discredit him and the movements he is backing. President Donald Trump, who called a hypothetical NFL protester a “son of a bitch” and suggested anyone taking a knee during the national anthem should be fired, is just one tired example.

Despite all of that, Kaepernick remains a popular athlete. In August of 2017, he ranked No. 39 on the NFL Players Association’s official list of jersey sales. He didn’t even have a team at that point.

Since then, the chasm running between Colin Kaepernick’s feet has only grown deeper. When the Nike deal was announced, a lot of people took to social media to post bone-headed videos of Nike sneakers being thrown into fire pits or pictures of swooshes that had been cut out of Nike socks. These were the dominant images, but not necessarily the dominant feeling.

According to Apex Marketing Group, which consults on advertising and branding issues, Nike’s new Kaepernick ad generated $43 million in media exposure in its first 19 hours. Almost half of the reaction, according to Apex, was positive; less than a third was negative.

But how do we really know that Kaepernick is being embraced by America, far more than he is being rejected? Because Nike is cutting him checks.

Think about the market research that must have gone into this decision. Think about the focus groups, the white papers and the high-level conference-table discussions and legal consultation that preceded the billboards. I guarantee that a lot of Nike executives were terrified of Kaepernick and what he might do to their sales. Along the way, they became convinced of his profitability, especially among the teenage boys and young men who dominate the sneaker market.

Nike’s partnership with Kaepernick isn’t a compliment to Nike. It’s a compliment to Kaepernick, and to what remains of a fractured society.

Maybe people have been listening to Kaepernick, after all. Maybe they understand that when he took a knee before games during the 2016 season, he wasn’t disrespecting the anthem or the military. He was pointing out some of the ways we are failing as a nation, and asking us to do better. You don’t have to agree with Kaepernick’s stances. You certainly don’t have to call him a hero. But if you can’t even acknowledge his message, you simply aren’t trying.

Nike believes that most of its customers are hearing the message. And while I would never use a shoe company as my moral compass, I have utmost confidence in Nike’s ability to read a room full of consumers.

Its conclusion is a Trumper’s nightmare: America likes Colin Kaepernick.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.

rights. He gave $25,000 to the American Friends Service Committee, most of which would cover behavioral health treatment for people who have been incarcerated.

On and on it went. And it added up to a cool million. Remember that Kaepernick did all of this while being shunned by NFL teams for his public, on-field protests of police violence and discrimination. (I won’t say he was “conspired against”; I’ll let the courts settle that terminology in Kaepernick’s collusion case against the league.) We know now that Nike was paying Kaepernick all along, basically keeping him on retainer. But it’s unlikely that income fully bankrolled his donations.

So if the “Just Do It” advertisements can fund more Kap contributions, get the checks in the mail ASAP. Lord knows the Buffalo Bills won’t be paying Kaepernick. They have Nathan Peterman to serve as their starting quarterback.

All the same, don’t believe for a minute that Nike’s deal with Kaepernick is evidence of the company’s humanity or social conscience. Because Nike has no humanity or social conscience.

I’m not saying the apparel company is evil. I’m saying that like most corporations, it is amoral. It doesn’t know “right” or “wrong” any more than a sea cucumber knows man coverage from a two-deep zone. Remember when Charles Barkley famously declared, “I am not a role model”? It was in a Nike ad. And it was a fairly pure expression of the corporate mindset.

The decisions of Nike’s leaders are based purely on the bottom line. They always have been, and likely always will be.

Some observers framed the timing of the Nike-Kaepernick like this: The company paid the quarterback for two years, biding its time as it figured out how best to deploy him. I would guess it was more like this: Nike licked its proverbial finger and stuck it into the air, gauging the shifting winds for two years until it had reason to believe that Kaepernick would be an appealing partner.

And that’s the truly encouraging thing about Kaepernick’s face going up on billboards all over the country (including one in San Francisco’s Union Square). It means that Nike believes it can make money off Colin Kaepernick’s image.

That’s a stunning development in the current political/cultural climate. Kaepernick’s self-proclaimed enemies have done everything they could to discredit him and the movements he is backing. President Donald Trump, who called a hypothetical NFL protester a “son of a bitch” and suggested anyone taking a knee during the national anthem should be fired, is just one tired example.

Despite all of that, Kaepernick remains a popular athlete. In August of 2017, he ranked No. 39 on the NFL Players Association’s official list of jersey sales. He didn’t even have a team at that point.

Since then, the chasm running between Colin Kaepernick’s feet has only grown deeper. When the Nike deal was announced, a lot of people took to social media to post bone-headed videos of Nike sneakers being thrown into firepits or pictures of swooshes that had been cut out of Nike socks. These were the dominant images, but not necessarily the dominant feeling.

According to Apex Marketing Group, which consults on advertising and branding issues, Nike’s new Kaepernick ad generated $43 million in media exposure in its first 19 hours. Almost half of the reaction, according to Apex, was positive; less than a third was negative.

But how do we really know that Kaepernick is being embraced by America, far more than he is being rejected? Because Nike is cutting him checks.

Think about the market research that must have gone into this decision. Think about the focus groups, the white papers and the high-level conference-table discussions and legal consultation that preceded the billboards. I guarantee that a lot of Nike executives were terrified of Kaepernick and what he might do to their sales. Along the way, they became convinced of his profitability, especially among the teenage boys and young men who dominate the sneaker market.

Nike’s partnership with Kaepernick isn’t a compliment to Nike. It’s a compliment to Kaepernick, and to what remains of a fractured society.

Maybe people have been listening to Kaepernick after all. Maybe they understand that when he took a knee before games during the 2016 season, he wasn’t disrespecting the anthem or the military. He was pointing out some of the ways we are failing as a nation, and asking us to do better. You don’t have to agree with Kaepernick’s stances. You certainly don’t have to call him a hero. But if you can’t even acknowledge his message, you simply aren’t trying.

Nike believes that most of its customers are hearing the message. And while I would never use a shoe company as my moral compass, I have utmost confidence in Nike’s ability to read a room full of consumers.

Its conclusion is a Trumper’s nightmare: America likes Colin Kaepernick.

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at (707) 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.