{"id":26604,"date":"2020-06-01T18:03:48","date_gmt":"2020-06-01T18:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ceo-na.com\/?p=26604"},"modified":"2020-06-03T17:03:28","modified_gmt":"2020-06-03T17:03:28","slug":"nike-addresses-racism-in-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/business\/innovation-business\/nike-addresses-racism-in-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Nike addresses racism in America"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nike released a video imploring viewers not to \u201cpretend there\u2019s not a problem in America,\u201d and inspired other companies and brands to follow, and later face backlash for\u00a0hypocrisy.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>While\u00a0protests occurred\u00a0in large and small US cities following\u00a0the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis after a white officer pressed a knee into his neck while taking him into custody,\u00a0Nike\u00a0released an ad imploring viewers to\u00a0not to \u201cbe part of the change,\u201d and not to \u201cpretend there\u2019s not a problem in America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The simple video, on which Nike worked with its longtime agency Wieden + Kennedy Portland, shared on Twitter, contains lettering that begins, \u201cFor Once, Don\u2019t Do It&#8230; Don\u2019t pretend there\u2019s not a problem in America&#8230; Don\u2019t turn your back on racism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It has had over 6.7 million views up to Monday afternoon.\u00a0Nike\u2019s athletic apparel rival Adidas also shared the video.<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-shortcode\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Let\u2019s all be part of the change.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/UntilWeAllWin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#UntilWeAllWin<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/guhAG48Wbp\">pic.twitter.com\/guhAG48Wbp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Nike (@Nike) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Nike\/status\/1266502116463370241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 29, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t the first time that Nike has taken a stand on social issues in America.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Nike has a long history of standing against bigotry, hatred, and inequality in all forms,&#8221; a Nike spokeswoman said in a statement, <a href=\"https:\/\/adage.com\/article\/cmo-strategy\/nike-says-dont-do-it-when-it-comes-racism-reaction-george-floyds-death\/2260081\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" data-analytics-post-depth=\"60\">according to AdAge<\/a>. &#8220;We hope that by sharing this film we can serve as a catalyst to inspire action against a deep issue in our society and encourage people to help shape a better future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The killing of George Floyd \u2014 who has become only the latest victim in a recent string of killings of African Americans at the hands of police officers and other would-be authority figures \u2014has certainly impacted\u00a0President and CEO John Donahue, who has <a href=\"https:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/nike-ceo-george-floyd-killing-234940158.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">confessed to employees through an internal memo<\/a> that he \u201ccan\u2019t stop thinking about the individuals impacted,\u201d listing several people of color to die under controversial circumstances or face blatant racism in the U.S. in recent weeks, \u201cAhmaud Arbery. Christian Cooper. Breonna Taylor. George Floyd.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/footwearnews.com\/2020\/business\/opinion-analysis\/nikes-ceo-george-floyd-death-racism-1202997945\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">According to Footwear News<\/a>,\u00a0the message delivered by Donahoe, who was appointed to\u00a0Nike\u2019s top post last year\u00a0and succeeded longtime chief\u00a0Mark Parker, is not dissimilar to a message sent by Parker in 2016 when Nike threw support at former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick after he gained attention after protesting police brutality against African Americans by \u201ctaking a knee\u201d during the national anthem. Two years later, the company also launched its \u201cDream Crazy\u201d campaign in 2018 for the 30th anniversary of \u201cJust Do It\u201d and made Kaepernick as one of its spokespeople despite boycotts. Nike stood by its decision; sales and shares rose, and now, the sports giant seems to be two years ahead of its time.<\/p>\n<p>It seems that\u00a0silence or neutrality will not go unnoticed among brands.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-26607\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ceo-na.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/o.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/o-200x113.jpg 200w, http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/o-300x169.jpg 300w, http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/o-400x225.jpg 400w, http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/o-500x281.jpg 500w, http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/o-600x338.jpg 600w, http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/o-700x394.jpg 700w, http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/o-768x432.jpg 768w, http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/o-800x450.jpg 800w, http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/o-1024x576.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/o-1200x675.jpg 1200w, http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/o.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The memo reads:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI\u2019ve been asking myself how to respond during times like these, both as a citizen and as a member of the Nike family,\u201d <strong>Donahoe wrote.<\/strong> \u201cThis is a place where we want to bring our complete selves to what we do, working on behalf of three brands \u2014 Nike, Jordan and Converse \u2014 that stand for the human spirit. And yet I know in recent days many of us have been experiencing feelings of heavy grief as we work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet me be as clear as I can: Nike is opposed to bigotry. We are opposed to hatred and inequality in all its forms, indirect and overt. While Nike cannot solve injustice, I believe we have a responsibility to work toward addressing it to the best of our ability. What we can do is inspire and empower ourselves and others to action \u2013 and try to help shape a better society by serving as a beacon of hope and resilience.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h1>Other companies followed&#8230; not all were praised<\/h1>\n<p>In the wake of the death of George Floyd, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outlookindia.com\/newsscroll\/coronavirus-latest-updates-on-covid19-crisis-around-the-world\/1852127?scroll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Outlook India reported<\/a> that major Hollywood studios issued statements on social media supporting the Black community and the Black Lives Matter movement.<\/p>\n<p>Streaming giant Netflix said it was important to speak up right now.\u00a0Amazon said the brutal treatment of black people in the US needs to stop, while HBO changed its Twitter handle name to #BlackLivesMatter.\u00a0Paramount Pictures turned to microblogging to condemn acts of racism and senseless violence against the Black community. Disney, Warner Bros, and The Academy of Motion Pictures have also taken social media to express their sentiment.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking out on social issues is often a calculated decision, a form of \u201cvalues and identity-driven targeted marketing,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/05\/31\/business\/media\/companies-marketing-black-lives-matter-george-floyd.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said Americus Reed, a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to Tiffany Hsu at The New York Times<\/a>. By aligning corporate values with what customers care about, companies are hoping to build a sense of loyalty and a deeper sense of personal connection, he said.\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019s a general trend toward executives in the C-suite being called out and pressure-tested by consumers who want to know where they stand \u2014 there\u2019s an opportunity to differentiate not just on function, on what\u2019s a better mousetrap, but on values,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s smart \u2014 they\u2019re taking a stand, hopefully, because it\u2019s moral, but also because they understand the long-term economic game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour hypocrisy knows no bounds,\u201d wrote\u00a0Sleeping Giants, a media watchdog group, in a reply to YouTube that echoed\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/slpnggiants\/posts\/2605806736328626\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a similar complaint<\/a>\u00a0against Twitter. \u201cAs a platform that has done its very best to avoid having to remove any videos from racists, white supremacists and hate mongers, you should be ashamed of even tweeting about this. Too little, too late.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nike released a video imploring viewers not to \u201cpretend there\u2019s  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":26608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,1337],"tags":[3659,1117,99,1385,1170,639],"class_list":["post-26604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation-business","category-primezone","tag-brand-marketing","tag-brands","tag-ceo","tag-ceo-northam","tag-nike","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26604"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26648,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26604\/revisions\/26648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}