The fallout from Nike unveiling a “Just Do It” ad campaign featuring blackballed quarterback Colin Kaepernick is thus: a small but vocal segment of the population defaced or burned their already-purchased Nike merchandise. Once that went viral, a bunch of people bought even more Nike gear, it seems.
So much for that boycott, I guess.
MarketWatch reported on Friday that Nike’s online sales jumped 31 percent in the wake of the ad’s release and public reaction to the campaign. It’s different from Nike’s stock prices, which critics of the ad campaign and those skeptical of its potential success over in the wake of the announcement.
That price has risen and fallen as per usual, but online point of sales numbers are a pretty clear indication that people reacted positively to the ad and Kaepernick’s involvement with the brand.
After an initial dip immediately after the news broke, Nike’s NKE, -0.12% online sales actually grew 31% from the Sunday of Labor Day weekend through Tuesday, as compared with a 17% gain recorded for the same period of 2017, according to San Francisco–based Edison Trends.
“There was speculation that the Nike/Kaepernick campaign would lead to a drop in sales, but our data over the last week does not support that theory,” said Hetal Pandya, co-founder of Edison Trends.
MarketWatch points out that Nike’s stock has rebounded as well, going up another one percent and remaining at positive numbers overall for the month. The stock is also up significantly for the year.
It has gained 29% in 2018, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.31% , which since 2013 has counted Nike as a member, has gained 5%, as the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.22% has risen about 8%.
Meanwhile, Nike got an endorsement from yet another of its prominent athletes on Friday, as Tiger Woods commended the company’s campaign, which featured clips of Woods and a narration from Kaepernick. On Friday, Woods called the spot “beautiful” and “powerful.”
https://twitter.com/NickMentaGC/status/1038122794779914243
Woods joins another Nike athlete, LeBron James, in commending the company for its ad and offering support for Kaepernick’s work with the company. They’re a little biased, obviously, but it seems like the general public tends to agree with them as well.
