So I have seen the ad, all two minutes and five seconds of it. Same messaging you always get from Nike: Hard to argue with, nice sentiments, blah blah blah. Until you get to the spokesman.
Yes, you have this figure that “gave up everything” to pursue something crazy. Something he believed in. But let’s put this in context:
Kaepernick “sacrificed” his NFL career? Hardly! He lost his job because he sucked – he couldn’t make the cut in the NFL. Had he not pulled this stunt, he would already be long forgotten. And that’s where this ad goes off the rails.
If Serena or LeBron, mentioned in the ad, sacrificed their career to pursue something bigger than themselves, something extremely difficult but an idea they believed so passionately about that they had to choose between the belief and their career, then that would be a brilliant ad.
Think about Patrick Tillman, who gave up his NFL career to go do something incredibly hard, and paid the ultimate price for following that idea when he died in Afghanistan.
THAT is a crazy dream, one I CAN believe in. One I can respect.
Kaepernick is a punk, who a savvy group of writers wrote some beautiful words to put into his mouth. Talk about inauthentic.
Phewy.