By Ryan Parker , Kimberly Nordyke September 15, 2019
“Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.”
Nike won a Creative Arts Emmy for best commercial on Sunday night for its polarizing “Dream Crazy” ad featuring Colin Kaepernick.
In the ad, unveiled a year ago, the former NFL quarterback is looking at the camera, and printed over the image is: “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt.”
Upon its debut, social media was alive almost immediately with a mixture of those who loved the move by Nike and supported it, and others who hated the ad and called for a boycott of the “anti-American” business.
Kaepernick has been a Nike athlete since 2011, but he has not played on an NFL team since 2016.
Kaepernick created a national firestorm when he began kneeling during the National Anthem in an effort to protest African-American inequality in America.
Since then, a number of players on nearly every NFL team have kneeled or raised a fist during the anthem for the same protest.
President Donald Trump made the protest action one of his main talking points, going so far as to call any player who kneels a “son of a bitch” and demanding they be fired. Through his campaign, he also blasted networks for announcing they would not air the anthem portion of the pregame. That is the standard for most, unless it is a special circumstance.
The league and the NFLPA have defended the right for those who wanted to protest peacefully.
In response to the ad, the NFL said in a statement last year: “The National Football League believes in dialogue, understanding and unity. We embrace the role and responsibility of everyone involved with this game to promote meaningful, positive change in our communities,” Jocelyn Moore, the NFL’s executive vp communications and public affairs, said in a statement. “The social justice issues that Colin and other professional athletes have raised deserve our attention and action.”
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Colin Kaepernick’s Nike ad wins Emmy for outstanding commercial
By Amir Vera, CNN Sun September 15, 2019
(CNN) – Nike’s gamble to partner with athlete-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick paid off Sunday as the company won an Emmy for outstanding commercial at the 2019 Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
The commercial, titled “Dream Crazy,” features Kaepernick alongside other sports legends including Serena Williams and LeBron James, who have reached beyond their personal achievements to support and advance political and social causes.
The ad was released in September 2018 days before the start of the NFL season. Kaepernick was one of the faces of Nike’s 30th anniversary commemoration of its iconic “Just Do It” campaign.
Despite some intense response to the ad — like people burning their Nike shoes and a Missouri college dropping the brand — the company’s stock hit an all-time high. Nike also gained tens of thousands of Instagram followers after announcing the campaign.
Since the commercial aired on televisions around the world, Nike has released several other socially and politically charged ads featuring an array of athletes from different backgrounds. Most recently, Nike partnered with the Toronto Raptors in their release of a team-branded hijab for Muslim women athletes.
CNN’s AJ Willingham contributed to this report.
Source: CNN
