Patterico's Pontifications

9/6/2018

Geniuses Destroy Their Own Property to Own Nike and the Libs

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:21 am



A typical reaction to Nike featuring Colin Kaepernick in an ad:

The guy is setting the grass on fire in addition to his own property. Other tweets have shown people cutting up their own socks, or cutting up their own shorts while wearing them, to remove the swooshes. But still use those articles of clothing that, um, they already paid for.

I saw this image on JD’s Facebook page:

Nike Doesn't Care

This all prompted what may be my most viral tweet to date:

I composed this post while sipping a delicious cup of coffee made by my Keurig coffeemaker.

67 Responses to “Geniuses Destroy Their Own Property to Own Nike and the Libs”

  1. And this, Patterico, is one of many, many reasons that extraterrestrials don’t visit our planet. We are nuttier than a Payday bar, and it might be communicable.

    “The Crazy Years,” right narcisco?

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  2. People do what they do with their property, Simon, specially when companies choose to insult half their audience.

    Narciso (f842ce)

  3. Now when people destroy other people’s property, that’s a,different story.

    Btw how,was your wife’s conference?

    Narciso (f842ce)

  4. You don’t like people who drive pickups?

    AZ Bob (885937)

  5. So like a certain figure who threw out some else’s medals over a wall, this furthers the hoody and hands up narrative.

    Narciso (f842ce)

  6. Agreed, narciso. But it does read like something out of RAH’s description of the period.

    I’m waiting for ministers eating a clay sandwich in the pulpit.

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  7. How much is a blog post here worth?

    Their property destruction bought that much amplification of their message at least, and there’s probably a lot more follow-on posts and articles out there what their shoe-burning has engendered.

    Plus there’s a meme here where the brand is juxtaposed with the word sh!t.

    That’s interesting.

    Mr. Green’s post this morning is also very though-provoking.

    The data he links shows that brand affinity dropped among all demos – including the target demos.

    So Nike has to get back to the status quo ante before this campaign pays any dividends.

    That’s an unenviable place to be this close to the holidays.

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  8. is also very *thought*-provoking i mean

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  9. The pontiff has done much more foolish and illadvised things according to cardinal vigano, who is from the Balkans,

    Narciso (f842ce)

  10. You don’t like people who drive pickups?

    How on earth did you get that from what I wrote?

    Patterico (889bad)

  11. I’m going to enjoy watching the NFL season opener tonite, and I love my country.

    Paul Montagu (9dcfd2)

  12. It’s explicitly not about the game, why do they insist on making it so.

    Narciso (f842ce)

  13. Women burned bras. More “freedom” resulted.

    Ed from SFV (6d42fa)

  14. Sorry Patterico. Living here in LA, I tend to hear slams against people living in fly-over country. I forgot you are a Texan. My mistake.

    AZ Bob (885937)

  15. AZ Bob,

    I laugh at people who burn their own property over this. I certainly don’t laugh at pickup drivers in general. That would be ridiculous.

    Patterico (889bad)

  16. People are free to be stupid, following Holmes dictum, and yet nothing about devos reforms or the curtailment on unrwa

    Narciso (f842ce)

  17. what’s more interesting is how this move aligns nike even more closely with the dying disreputable thug-nasty NFL

    for a global brand to dedicate this much bandwidth at this particular time to a branding effort that tees off of a damaged and dying brand like the NFL (and “football” generally) is kinda kooky

    where’s the feel-good here?

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  18. Patterico,

    they’re making a statement. If they throw it out is that any different? I know you had the same point in the Kuerig mess, but if people didn’t buy a new product, then their decision worked for them.

    BTW, people keep saying old white men don’t buy nike products so it doesn’t matter. Well, those guys are the dads that decide what their kids wear. If they decide to be a dad. So they do decide.

    Nike pulled the opposite of Michael Jordan who said “Republicans buy shoes, too.” They took a side in the culture war to alienate those on the other side. Who is the one virtue signalling while they pay their labor in China 20 cents an hour?

    NJRob (b00189)

  19. Some nice satire regarding Nike and its hero:

    “On the heels of its new ad campaign with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, Nike announced today it would “sacrifice everything” to benefit the urban Black community for which Kaepernick has become a champion.

    When corporate officers saw the public response to the new ad slogan — “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.“— they decided to “Just Do It.”

    Starting today, Nike will put its $36.3 billion in annual revenue, and its U.S. employees, to work on behalf of inner-city communities hit hard by income inequality, by institutional racism, and most tragically, by President Trump’s Tweets about NFL players who kneel during the National Anthem.

    Nike launched several new “sacrifice everything” initiatives, including, a commitment to…

    1) Manufacture all of its products in U.S. inner cities like Detroit, MI, and Compton, CA, by the 3rd quarter of 2019.

    2) Slash Nike shoe and gear prices so even the poorest of the poor can afford them.

    3) Redistribute headquarters personnel from their suburban homes to urban-core communities where they’ll live, work, send their kids to public schools, and serve on late-night volunteer neighborhood-watch patrols.

    4) Diversify its board of directors and executives in design, marketing, and sales, to mirror the racial and ethnic population proportions in the average U.S. inner city.

    5) Donate every penny of profits to drug rehabs, tuition assistance and vocational training programs for inner-city youth.

    “All of these ‘sacrifice everything’ initiatives put our money where our mouth is, and our feet on the move,” said a Nike spokesman. “We don’t want anyone to think Nike’s using Colin Kaepernick to appropriate ‘the struggle’ in some crass corporate way just to boost our $15.9 billion annual profit.”

    http://scrappleface.com/blog/2018/09/04/nike-to-sacrifice-everything-for-black-community/

    Nike is also facing several lawsuits on discrimination – think of it as proactive PR/marketing.

    And did Chuck Todd suggest pickup trucks were the weapon of choice for the Resistance?

    harkin (c7ccf8)

  20. Public destruction of anything isn’t dumb if publicity is the goal.

    In this case, it was obviously successful.

    tom swift (acc5ef)

  21. Just remember Corporations are always right. Conservatives should support them no matter what they do. Even George Soros, for instance.

    Let the Left-wing, those hippy radicals, boycott and pressure. If the Corporations then cave in to the left. We’ll pat ourselves on the back for not “taking the low road”. We support Big business no matter what.

    Principles – never trumper style.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  22. nike doesn’t care if you burning sh!t you already paid for

    this isn’t even really true though Mr. Patterico

    there’s a reason nike swooshes the crap out of everything

    it targets young people

    and it needs these young people to see that lots of other young people are wearing nikes and that they’re popular shoes

    when you wear their stuff you become a walking ad for them

    when you wear adidas cause you hate nasty social justice trash like colin kaepernick then you become a walking ad for adidas

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  23. speaking of nasty social justice trashed i’m curious to see how this works this fall

    the lesbian;s one of those pug-faced girls what seem to be getting so much work these days

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  24. oops *lesbian’s* i mean

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  25. oh and that should have just been trash not trashed

    i got an im while i was doing that one and i hit submit before i should have

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  26. harkin’s quote makes a great point. If Nike really wanted to help inner city communities, it has quite a lot of power to do so simply by bringing manufacturing to those areas. Nike’s decision to make everything in the absolute cheapest conditions is part of our generation’s greatest mistake.

    I imagine in a few generations, the way our manufacturers exploited sweatshops for our clothing and electronics will be compared to the practice of slavery.

    As far as the marketing goes, Nike is taking a risk but a pretty smart one. A lot of people, particularly young people, will now buy Nike to show how woke they are. Nike knows the culture and fashion are driven by celebrities and therefore will lean left. It’s not like 20-30 years ago.

    But at any rate, if Nike really wants to make a dent in a cycle of bad outcomes in our country, providing a lot of jobs in poor communities would be huge. I can almost see a more clever version of Trump brokering some tax breaks for Nike to do this more easily, but we’re way past the point of cooperation.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  27. Nike’s biggest market is young black people. It’s the reason Michael Jordan is a billionaire.

    nk (dbc370)

  28. Just remember Corporations are always right. Conservatives should support them no matter what they do. Even George Soros, for instance.

    Let the Left-wing, those hippy radicals, boycott and pressure. If the Corporations then cave in to the left. We’ll pat ourselves on the back for not “taking the low road”. We support Big business no matter what.

    Principles – never trumper style.

    rcocean (1a839e) — 9/6/2018 @ 8:51 am

    Do you have an example of the Trump critic who has argued that they support George Soros because of a principle of loving all corporations? I read a lot of political opinions I don’t agree with, and see this hatred, fear, and paranoia about ‘nevertrumpers’ presented quite a lot on Trump supporting websites, but it’s sad if people really buy that. Remember, Trump’s the extremely wealthy businessman with special access and favors from his donations to the democrats and republicans. The people who were skeptical of his conservatism were not motivated by ‘support for big business no matter what’. Don’t let propaganda manipulate you. Try to find more common ground.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  29. When the police in Chicago want to set a sting for burglars in a black neighborhood, they use a truck full of Nike shoes. True. I’m not making it up. You can Google it. “Sting chicago police nike shoes”.

    nk (dbc370)

  30. Nike’s biggest market is young black people.

    yes yes so that’s not where it’s gonna look for growth

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  31. Burn your Nike sneakers, burn the Koran, burn your bra, burn your Draft Card, burn Buddhist monks, burn churches, burn the White House, burn books, burn libraries, burn museums, burn prisoners, burn your neighborhood, burn your barn, burn yourself. Burn! Baby Burn!

    ropelight (741aa5)

  32. It’s not only about growth, it’s also about keeping your market.

    nk (dbc370)

  33. Liberals: We’re going to boycott/protest In-n-out burgers. It’ll make us look dumb.
    Conservatives: Hold my beer.

    Davethulhu (fab944)

  34. Just remember Corporations are always right. Conservatives should support them no matter what they do. Even George Soros, for instance.

    If that’s what you think is the point of the post, then you need to read for comprehension. Patterico isn’t decrying boycotts, he’s amused at people destroying their own property.

    Burning your pair of Nikes does nothing to hurt Nike’s bottom line. You’ve already bought the pair, Nike already has your money.

    It’s like buying 1,000 copies of a book you don’t like and burning them: the author is getting the royalties regardless of what you do with them.

    Chuck Bartowski (3ad03d)

  35. “Burning your pair of Nikes does nothing to hurt Nike’s bottom line.”

    If it discourages two or three other people from buying new pairs, yes it does.

    Stephen J. (f77922)

  36. One suggestion I saw was, instead of burning, shredding, composting, or otherwise destroying your Nike gear, if you really want to make a statement, donate it to the homeless and hope the brand becomes associated with being broke and on the street.

    Karl Lembke (e37f42)

  37. they needed to have a ton of america-hating celebrity trash / athlete trash ready with supportive tweets and posts on day

    they dropped the ball there

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  38. If it discourages two or three other people from buying new pairs, yes it does.

    Yes, and if my aunt had wheels, she’d be a wagon.

    There are other ways to organize boycotts without destroying your own property. Wasting resources is foolish.

    Chuck Bartowski (38f9f2)

  39. Morning Consult seems to show this is a very bad move by Nike.

    https://morningconsult.com/form/nike-kaepernick-report/?mod=djemCMOToday

    NJRob (b00189)

  40. It feels appropriate for this blog to enter the meme stream.

    Dejectedhead (32d547)

  41. “when you wear their stuff you become a walking ad for them”

    It’s amazing how many people do not understand this. They said when Tiger Woods’ putt on 16 at Augusta held on the rim with the swoosh showing before it dropped it was worth millions to Nike.

    The ubiquitous swoosh is HUGE for marketing. The only real question is why anyone would be buying Nike in the first place given their history.

    And while many are saying to just watch, this will be a huge hit…..well, maybe but this is the same company that got the Oregon Ducks to dress like the Raiders for the CFB Champ game.

    https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-GI638_count0_P_20150108150729.jpg

    harkin (7f4688)

  42. 37.One suggestion I saw was, instead of burning, shredding, composting, or otherwise destroying your Nike gear, if you really want to make a statement, donate it to the homeless and hope the brand becomes associated with being broke and on the street.

    Most ad men will tell you there is no such thing as bad logo placement. The logo says BUY.

    I don’t think these mug shots discouraged people from voting for Obama:

    http://i.cdn.turner.com/trutv/thesmokinggun.com/graphics/art4/1217081mugyear20.jpg

    harkin (7f4688)

  43. I composed this post while sipping a delicious cup of coffee made by my Keurig coffeemaker.

    Keurig would feel it if you junked your Keurig machine. It makes its money from the pods which you would also stop buying.

    I don’t wear Nikes because the one pair of Air Jordans I bought 25 years ago sucked. But this guy in the tweet who is burning his says they’re his favorite shoes. I guess that’s a real sacrifice for him. Next to good sex and warm bathrooms, there’s nothing like comfortable shoes.

    nk (dbc370)

  44. I highly recommend Under Armor’s running shoes. The nicer ones that are basically a nice mesh sock attached to a light-weight sole. They are awesome.

    I haven’t owned a pair of Nikes since the 1990s. Since then, there are so many more great shoe companies competing. I think Nike will see a short term improvement in profits as tons of people get the shoes to show how politically fashionable they are. Long term, this will be like General Motors vs Ford. It will be a difficult to measure thing, but a lot of folks will not consider this brand again, and as the surge in sales wears off, Nike will have to resort to more political stunts to try to keep this alive. I fully expect to see political candidates sport pink Nikes.

    Rather than burn your old Nikes, I think the better response is to show the people who really did sacrifice everything. Those examples on social media are persuasive that Nike is out of touch. This football player has made himself rich by injecting politics and division into a sport that brought people together. He done the opposite of sacrificing for the good of society.

    Dustin (ba94b2)

  45. Yeah you are so much better than the idiot rubes in their flat bed f150 trucks sipping Budweiser owning the libs by burning Nike gear.

    Only difference between them and you is that you now join the left in mocking trump voters by reposting stupid memes calling them rednecks. All you are doing with that is “owning the right”.

    Just be a Democrat already

    Hi (102c8b)

  46. You have got to be one of the biggest blogging hypocrites I have ever seen. Yeah nice imagery “F150!”. Probably imagined some toothless hillbilly you are sooooooo much better than when you typed that.

    Have some balls, use a stereotype about black democrats. Come on be a man for once.

    Hi (102c8b)

  47. Patterico is being disingenuous. Burning Nike stuff publicly is a way of encouraging other people not to buy Nike stuff.

    David in Cal (0d5a1d)

  48. An average of 65% of all New Balance shoes are made in America.
    Great Company based out of Boston. Only other tennis shoe I wore – Chuck Taylor Converse All-Star- White in color.

    mg (8cbc69)

  49. 44, yup that’s like destroying an ink jet printer although hp and the like would just see utilization increase from another channel. But great appropriation of an infamous Earl Butz quote, because the subject of that hot take is the Nike market.

    urbanleftbehind (fea0b4)

  50. 48, if it’s old and already foul smelling shoes, it’s a sunk cost and the act of burning is negative goodwill.

    urbanleftbehind (fea0b4)

  51. Note for racist yellers – white was the only color they made.

    mg (8cbc69)

  52. Patterico is being disingenuous”

    I’d venture to guess he just doesn’t get it. Nike would much rather you donate their gear if you don’t want it – free advertising is not a difficult concept.

    Lol @ “Setting the grass on fire”

    harkin (c7ccf8)

  53. Note for racist yellers – white was the only color they made.

    They also made black and red when I wore them in the 60s.

    Then along came three stripes and the Adidas Gazelle and the world turned.

    harkin (c7ccf8)

  54. Nike is nefarious for other reasons.

    It squashed a ballot initiative in cahoots with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and public unions, then gave a nudge-nudge wink-wink donation to Brown’s campaign. It has come out against anti-tax initiatives, and an initiative to repeal Oregon’s cuckoo sanctuary status, and has backed it up with money.

    http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/08/complaint_kate_browns_initiati.html

    http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/09/nike_officially_joins_campaign.html

    Munroe (8ff5e1)

  55. Clay Routledge
    @clayroutledge
    We are living in an era of woke capitalism in which companies pretend to care about social justice to sell products to people who pretend to hate capitalism.

    harkin (c7ccf8)

  56. You have got to be one of the biggest blogging hypocrites I have ever seen. Yeah nice imagery “F150!”. Probably imagined some toothless hillbilly you are sooooooo much better than when you typed that.

    I see no evidence of hypocrisy. Just an upset commenter venting and making things up about me, as Trumpalos are wont to do.

    Patterico (9aff24)

  57. Patterico is being disingenuous. Burning Nike stuff publicly is a way of encouraging other people not to buy Nike stuff

    David in Cal is being disingenuous. Burning Nike stuff publicly is a way of encouraging other people to buy Nike stuff, to spite the idiots burning Nike stuff.

    Patterico (9aff24)

  58. Frankly, I think Nike made a dumb move, but the second I consider criticizing them, I see a bunch of idiots making fools of themselves burning their own stuff. And I feel a greater impulse to laugh at them than I do to criticize Nike.

    Patterico (9aff24)

  59. Patterico,

    they’re making a statement.

    And that statement is: “Watch me make a fool of myself on Twitter!”

    Patterico (9aff24)

  60. Reaganomics:

    The NFL and Nike agreed Tuesday to a 10-year extension of their rights deal.

    March 27, 2018

    ‘With the extension, Nike will continue to supply the NFL’s 32 teams with uniforms and sideline apparel for use during games. Nike will also provide shoes and gloves to NFL players who are under contract with the company.

    “Nike has been a long-time and trusted partner of NFL and we’re thrilled to extend our relationship with them,” Brian Rolapp, chief media and business officer for the NFL, said in a statement. “The NFL and Nike are a powerful combination and we anticipate working closely with them on several programs, including youth and player initiatives.”

    The original deal began in 2012 and had been expanded in 2015 to 2018.” -source espn.com

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  61. Always trust content from patterico.com:


    Ford Recalls 2 Million F-150 Pickups to Fix Potential Fire Hazard

    Dave (445e97)

  62. “Watch me make a fool of myself on Twitter!”

    did you see douchebag jack dorsey’s nose ring

    it glinted in the sun that one time he went outside

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  63. So how many billions in stock value did Nike burn up with this endorsement?

    bud (b48f3e)

  64. Currently, in our country, it is cool to celebrate diversity. Now, it appears that it is a cool to attack those things which hold us together. The American flag and the Star Spangle Banner are two symbols that glue us together. It is striking that a major American company (who produce all their product outside the USA) and an American sports institution, the NFL support attacks on American symbols. Taken a few steps further, it appears that both of these institutions are in the fore front on attacking American unity at the expense of there paeans to diversity. It use to be that civics in school was about glueing us together in a shared experience. That appears to be gone…

    jason stewart (003ffc)

  65. IF I was a major stockholder in Nike, I’d demand they PROVE this is a clever marketing ploy to make more $$$ and not some jackass SJW nonsense.

    rcocean (1a839e)

  66. Never trust International Corporations. Their only flag is the $ sign. Of course, if their only objective is $$$, then why are we giving them so much leeway and tax breaks.

    If they’re part of the “Free Market” they should be able to thrive without any tax credits, tax breaks, or any other help from US.

    rcocean (1a839e)


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