The Analysis of The Article "Nike Will not Lead a Brand Revolution" by Vanessa Taylor

It is extremely easy take advantage of what people see and think especially in a time where companies have the power to influence anything for increasing their profit or gaining name recognition. The article “Nike will not lead a brand revolution” (Taylor), featuring Nick Kaepernick, is written by Vanessa Taylor, a young female from Minnesota with the passion for speaking the truth in politics (Contently) explained how companies take advantage of movements to gain something out of it, rather than contributing to society without expecting something in return.

In the beginning of the article, Taylor specifies how Nike is attempting to use Nick Kaepernick’s name as a way of showing people that they are a selfless company who are attempting to do more for the community. They want to be a part of the solution that will bring more peace between everyone, when in reality, they are taking advantage of these events to create name recognition for themselves to sell more of their product to increase their profits. This strategy is extremely successful to them because they have already generated 43 million in profit from this movement alone (2).

But, Taylor takes a turn to explain how Nike has been selflessly using social media by overhyping events to increase name recognition to create more revenue by themselves by putting their name out there to the public to get more people to buy their products. To support this argument, Taylor states how Nike went from supporting the police force with their “Law enforcement appreciation day”, (3) from creating a movement to show how our law enforcement put their lives at risk for our safety to being against the actions they are taking against African Americans. Which shows how them taking advantage of social media has been an effective strategy to Nike and other profitable companies.

Nike is attempting to prove how good they are as a company by trying to change the world for the better, when they are not necessarily a good example of a company that’s selflessly doing good deeds. In the article, Taylor states how Nike has been taking advantage of their employees to maximize profit, from not paying their employees enough money, to not providing their workers with a well-maintained environment to work in. This shows how Nike needs to realize that if they want to “believe” in making a change in the world, they first must “Sacrifice” anything they are doing that is wrong. (1)

Taylor states that bigger, more famous companies tend to seek profit rather than helping and giving back to the community that made them in the first place. (2) Nike stays active on social media trying to convince the people how they are contributing to society by attempting to solve the bigger issues in societies, when in reality, Nike is trying to take advantage of these events to put their name out there to gain name recognition or profit.

Work Cited:

1. Mollman, Steve. “Nike's Police Appreciation Day Is Facing a Backlash from ‘Black Lives Matter’ Activists.” Quartz, Quartz, 15 May 2015, qz.com/404743/nikes-police-appreciation-day-is-facing-a-backlash-from-black-lives-matter-activists/.
2. Taylor, Vanessa. “Nike Will Not Lead a Brand Revolution – Member Feature Stories – Medium.” Medium, Medium, 12 Sept. 2018, medium.com/s/story/nike-will-not-head-a-branded-revolution-8d42947af238?sk=9ccc1710a1e5dd092ac74eeffb9cc97b.
3. Taylor, Vanessa. “Stories by Vanessa Taylor.” Contently, taylorv.contently.com/?source=user_profile