Angry Americans have been burning up their Nike takkies following the sportswear giant’s choice of Colin Kaepernick as a face for the 30th anniversary of its “Just Do It” slogan.
Shares of Nike Inc fell 3 percent on Tuesday as calls for a boycott gained traction on social media, reports Reuters.
Former San Francisco quarterback Kaepernick, the first NFL player to kneel during the national anthem as a protest against racism, posted a black-and-white close-up of himself on Instagram on Monday featuring the Nike logo and “Just do it” slogan, along with the quote: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”
Thousands of people were tweeting with the hashtag #NikeBoycott by Wednesday.
AANIE BRAND: Burning Nike shoes. Photo: Twitter
Some posted images of themselves burning and ripping their Nike shoes, caps and klere.
“First the @NFL forces me to choose between my favourite sport and my country. I chose country,” Twitter user @sclancy79 said in a post retweeted
16 000 times.
“Then @Nike forces me to choose between my favourite shoes and my country. Since when did the American flag and the national anthem become offensive?”
But others supported Nike’s choice including athletes LeBron James and Kevin Durant, who posted images of Kaepernick’s ad on their Instagram profiles.
Kaepernick’s stand has cost him as he has yet to be signed on to a club.
US President Donald Trump has been critical of athletes taking a knee during the national anthem and has said he would love to see NFL owners fire football players who “disrespect” the American flag.
Nike confirmed that Kaepernick was part of the campaign and called him “one of the inspirational athletes of his generation”.