THE NIKE TRAIN TO OBLIVION

James Woods, a smart man, quickly recognized the significance of the idiotic decision by Nike to feature Colin Kaepernick. He advised his broker to immediately sell all his Nike stock. Nike stock feel 3% yesterday. Odds are it will fall more today. At first the decline may seem reasonable, but it will continue to slide. Even extreme liberals like to keep their money. While some people, like Lebron James and Tom Brady may not grasp the magnitude of this error, those people smart enough to earn money who invested it in Nike stock are likely working overtime on an exit strategy.

Ironically, one result will be enormous class action lawsuits against the board of directors of Nike. Here are the people who are about to be sued:

Mark Parker                        Chairman, President & CEO

Philip Knight                        Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus

Alan Graf, Jr.                       Fed Ex Corporation

Timothy Cook                     Apple, Inc.

John Lechleiter        Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America

John Thompson, Jr.           Nike, Inc.

John Connors                       MBS Source, LLC

Johnathan Rodgers            Nike, Inc.

Elizabeth Comstock           Nike, Inc

Michelle Peluso       International Business Machines Corporation

John Donahoe II      ServiceNow, Inc.

Travis Knight                        Laika, LLC

Pater Henry PH.D   Nike, Inc.

Cathleen Benk         Nike, Inc.

This will do more than depress Nike sales. It will do more than result in people burning Nike merchandise. This will make anyone wearing Nike labeled products a target. Most of us will just see the logo and smirk. Other people will potentially respond violently. If you doubt that, check out the physical assaults on people wearing MAGA hats. Now multiply that by several thousand.

If, and that is a big if, Nike is to even survive it will probably have to rebrand itself. Nice! This is going to rank as one of the dumbest decisions in the history of corporate America. This reminds me when on July 11, 1985, Coca-Cola Chairman & CEO Roberto Goizueta and Coca-Cola president Donald Keough decided to change the recipe for Coke so that it would taste more like Pepsi. It was a complete disaster. In just a few days, the original Coke was back, now labeled Coca-Cola Classic. New Coke has been long gone.

http://home.bt.com/news/on-this-day/july-11-1985-new-coke-canned-as-coca-colas-new-formula-is-deemed-a-marketing-disaster-11363991256264

Perhaps the best comment was by a Coke executive who said:

“We did not know what we were selling. We are not selling a soft drink. We are selling a tiny part of people’s lives.”  Coca-Cola Classic was completely removed from Coke cans in 2009.

Some people believe the entire “New Coke” campaign was a publicity stunt. Who knows? But what Nike has done is no publicity stunt, it is a publicity disaster. This is either a deliberate insult to every veteran and police officer or these people are beyond stupid.

The truth is that Colin Kaepernick probably sat down for the National Anthem because otherwise no one would have paid attention to him at all.  He had been reduced to a back-up quarterback all wise 49er fans prayed would never see game action. His career was already over, not because of his political views, but because of his lousy performance. But when he sat for the national anthem, the liberal left and the MSM went crazy. Suddenly everyone forgot that Kaepernick was a lousy player and they elevated him to superstar status. The owners and coaches in the NFL knew better. A polarizing player drawing massive publicity can be very destructive.If that player can’t actually play, the problem is magnified.

Now, Nike is comparing this to winning the Medal of Honor. In reality the only thing Kaepernick sacrificed was several more weeks of oblivion as a backup quarterback being paid too much to justify placing him on the practice squad. Most people not named Lebron James and Tom Brady realize that.

I can already imagine another TV ad by William Devane on behalf of Rosland Capital:

To all of you who own or previously owned Nike Stock: I warned you to buy gold.”

TDM