September Hero

This months hero goes to Nike the iconic apparel brand that isn’t afraid to take a stance on issues including those of a political nature that sometimes divide us.

Early this month Nike released an commercial featuring former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The former NFL quarterback worked himself out of a job in the NFL and left over $20 million on the table over his stance in the black lives matter national anthem kneeling’s that he began.

As expected Nike’s ad has been taken on with great controversy resulting initially in public demonstrations of people burning and destroying Nike apparel but I admire a company that isn’t afraid to stand for something.

There is no question that the ad can be seen as a marketing strategy targeting the underdog and the unrepresented. I see the ad as “a stroke of genius” for an underdog company that started out of the trunk of founder Phil Knight out of the trunk of his car.

This underdog iconic American apparel is not afraid to take a stance as it has shown in this 2-minute piece titled “dream crazy” narrated by Colin Kaepernick.

It has been a while since some one like Colin Kaepernick has come along and sacrificed a good life for something that he believes in. Jane Fonda, Marlon Brando, and a select few others put it all on the line so that they could be the voice for others that could not be heard.

Ironically the iconic American brand has now given Kaepernick a voice and aligned themselves with the underdog who has been silenced by the NFL and in large part the nation.