Nike has often relied on controversial advertisements to draw in the younger generations.  The most recent occurrence was that of athlete Colin Kaepernick. Nike has promoted his decisions to stand firm in one’s beliefs, even if that means losing everything.

“Colin Kaepernick has always been on the controversial side of the news media.  He always seems like he is up to something,” sophomore Reyd Schmidt said

In August 2017, Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem before the Green Bay Packers versus San Francisco 49ers game began.  While he never received any punishment, many people began boycotting the NFL, and this began to cause problems not only with the organization but with the amount of time Kaepernick played.

“I believe Nike’s new ad campaign is very supportive of all races, genders, and sex’s.  Everyone takes it further than it should be taken. They are just trying to show that if you believe in something you should go for it even if you lose everything,” senior Dillon Thornton said.

However, many people have taken this ad the wrong way, as images of Kaepernick wearing Nike Elite socks that portray police officers as pigs have begun to resurface on the internet.  This has caused many problems for Nike’s company including a steady decline in their stock value.

“In my opinion, Nike made a huge mistake by making Colin Kaepernick the face of their ad campaign.  It has hurt their company more than help it so far,” Schmidt Said.

Since the release of the ad in early September Nike’s online sales have plummeted by 31 percent.  This is not the only decline we have seen in their company, however. Their stock values have dropped more than three percent since last Tuesday.  While the statistics are almost all negative, there are also reports of many people boycotting the company and even going as far as burning and destroying the companies products.

“I have seen the videos of people cutting the Nike logo and it shows that the public really is not happy with what the company did.  If I were the one in charge of this campaign, I would’ve done many things differently,” Schmidt said.