Nike officially announced Colin Kaepernick as the face of their new “Just Do It” campaign, on Monday afternoon.
Nike tweeted:
The theme of sacrifice, was quickly seized upon by several on Twitter. Though, probably not in the way Nike had intended:
Collins’ tweet, depicting former NFL player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman who was killed during combat operations in Afghanistan in 2004, was widely used by people on social media to show what an athlete making a real sacrifice looks like.
Others pointed out Nike’s hypocrisy in supporting Kaepernick’s protests while selling shoes allegedly produced in factories that may have questionable labor practices:
Fox News’ Janice Dean asked why Nike wouldn’t use someone who has made people’s lives better without controversy, as the face of their campaign:
Still, most seized on the hypocrisy of Kaepernick extolling the virtues of sacrifice, while cashing big checks from Nike:
Outkick the Coverage’s Clay Travis wasted no time blasting the Nike campaign:
Frequent Kaepernick commenter Jason Whitlock of Fox Sports 1, says he sees the Nike ad campaign as a fulfillment of how he predicted the former 49er’s social justice protest would end:
This pretty much sums it up:
Kaepernick is still not on an NFL roster and his collusion grievance against the NFL is soon to move to the trial phase.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn