Colin Kaepernick, the Super Bowl calibre quarterback that couldn’t find a job in the NFLlast year, remains unemployed in his chosen field this year after the entire preseason has been played – but not in that of endorsements, as The Bleacher Report notes:
Nike selected former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick as the face of its “Just Do It” campaign, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
And I think that simple, single sentence is a signal of how Nike sees the future, which is, as always, youth-centered. I did a little digging but failed to find any polls on the issue which call out results on an age basis. I suspect they would show that young people are more concerned with the justice of the situation than their elders, especially those who belong to no particular racial minority, who tend to have a more concrete approach to such matters.
So Nike, along with GQ[1], recognizing the demographics of the situation, has made Kaepernick into one of their spokesmen, and by so doing have aligned themselves with the youth movement. Perhaps corporate leadership in either or both cases has an actual rational reason that has nothing to do with future corporate profits in making these moves – but, absent any cogent press releases on the matter, I doubt it.
And the poor ol’ NFL is between a rock and a hard place. Their best fans are getting older and don’t necessarily understand Kaepernick’s actions, the younger set are more likely to sympathize but wonder why they’re watching a sport that has terrible consequences for its players, and the President is – exceptionally inappropriately – pressuring the NFL to, well, take a knee by implementing rules that require the anthem to be honored.
Which is absolutely no honor at all.
1GQ named Colin its 2017 Citizen of the Year, according to The Bleacher Report article. On further consideration, that sort of honor may indicate GQ really does think kneeling for the anthem is a valid action. Good for them.
