Thread regarding Nike Inc. layoffs

The white conservative base is not what leads Nike culturally... far from it. And the critique of supporting “woke” culture is a separate thing from the positive reality of the brand having always been very positively in support of black athletes. Woke is a political ideology that does resonate with the kids that make the brand cool.

I couldn’t stand the D&I brainwashing and I spoke out against it every moment I could. Didn’t work out well for me.

Consumers don’t care about the internal workings but they certainly care about external messaging. Plus it’s better for a big corporation to have its consumers arguing about racial differences instead of a “we are the 99% message” as was previously used in previous lefty cultural moments. The regular people are much easier to tamp down by the ruling class when fragmented into groups like this.

What @utc said.

I also don’t think most consumers care much about Nike’s inner workings. And to the small extent I hear Nike as a topic of conversation it’s usually around how companies like Nike, Coke, American Airlines and others have jumped the shark on “wokeness” in recent years. If you Google “Nike, woke” there’s quite a lot of recent news coverage.

I have two things to say about that:

1. For better or worse Nike’s revenue and earnings tell the story of its transition to wokeness. So far it’s been an effective strategy. Will that last? I don’t know. I do know a bunch of people including myself who think the whole wokeness thing has gone overboard. It’s the pendulum swinging too far in the other direction. I could give you some edgy examples of wokeness run amok at Nike but doing so would inevitably offend some people. Which ironically is one of the problems with wokeness; everyone has a reason to be offended by anything and everything. Nowadays I see people at work almost terrified to state opinions for fear of offending someone. And don’t you DARE start questioning the patent silliness of several DE&I efforts. That will offend people too.

2. As said above wokeness is a strategy. More than ever Nike is now bundling its products with social messages that convey consumer’s identity and membership in certain groups. Certain woke groups primarily. This is fine. To a point. But like most companies Nike wants to have it both ways in a society and culture where people are increasingly “picking a side”. This creates an inherent hypocrisy and cynicism that we already see boiling under the surface. Nike’s full throttle embrace of woke culture could potentially sour the brand if - as Malcolm Gladwell suggests happens every 12 years or so - the cultural winds change suddenly and unexpectedly such that wokeness quickly becomes the new disco. I would have preferred that Nike instead retained its historical emphasis on sport sans as much cultural and political commentary. Nike has placed most of its chips on one color and the roulette wheel is still spinning. Needless to say the outcome could be a big win or it could be devastating. Nike has gambled with its image in the past. Just not to the extent I currently see.

So OP it remains to be seen how public perception of Nike evolves and shifts. I don’t like the current direction myself but for now it’s holding up.

The quality of products looks to be even cheaper and thrown together. Nikes are forever a hype product especially the rare and high heat items. It’s funny that nike would be NO WHERE without Michael Jordan or other black athletes but you have customers upset over BLM...? Look on campus and check out the banners of the athletes. I’d say over 70% are black athletes or have black blood in their veins.

I doubt consumers care much about the inner workings of Nike. If I hear anything it's mainly people griping about Nike supporting BLM. Let's be honest, aside from sneakerheads I feel like Nike's customers are mainly white and conservative (or people aspiring to be that way).