Research Mentor(s)

Bowe, Brian J.

Description

How does Nike's campaign supporting Colin Kaepernick and the Black Lives Matter movement reflect the alignment of large corporations with political movements as a Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and how does political consumerism impact this decision? The purpose of this project is to examine how Nike used the ‘Dream Crazy’ campaign to piggyback off the Black Lives Matter movement as a public relations and marketing strategy as well as how political consumerism is shaping corporate social responsibility. How do political movements impact the corporate world and how do corporations impact political movements? Nike’s Colin Kaepernick campaign titled ‘Chasing Crazy’ was selected for this study as they are a prominent U.S. business and this campaign is considered one of the most successful PR and ad campaigns in recent history. The Colin Kaepernick campaign was specifically chosen because Kaepernick has evolved from an athlete to a political figure representing the Black Lives Matter movement. The campaign, including social media posts on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram and the press release were collected from September 5, 2018 to October 6, 2018. They were then coded for political alliance to a specific party and alliance to the Black Lives Matter movement through narrative analysis. In order to answer the question “what is the underlying message?”, the following steps were followed. The timeline of the campaign was mapped out, the backstory was identified and the function of each aspect of the campaign was defined. Through my research, I found consumerists are sparking companies to push for political change. We see that with the increase of CSR spending by large corporations, such as Nike did with the Kaepernick campaign. This new pressure is molding them into agents of social change and the idea that corporations have a duty to engage in politics is rising and the consumers are craving it. It might even be a better strategy to pick a side than it is to stay out of controversial issues, if it is done well, of course.

Document Type

Event

Start Date

15-5-2019 9:00 AM

End Date

15-5-2019 5:00 PM

Location

Carver Gym (Bellingham, Wash.)

Department

Journalism

Genre/Form

student projects, posters

Subjects – Topical (LCSH)

Advertising--Political aspects--United States; Advertising--Social aspects--United States; Sports--United States--Marketing; Consumers--Attitudes

Subjects – Names (LCNAF)

Nike (Firm)

Geographic Coverage

United States

Type

Image

Keywords

Public Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility, Political Consumerism, Nike, Colin Kaepernick

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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May 15th, 9:00 AM May 15th, 5:00 PM

Nike In Politics: How Political Consumerism Impacts Corporate Social Responsibility

Carver Gym (Bellingham, Wash.)

How does Nike's campaign supporting Colin Kaepernick and the Black Lives Matter movement reflect the alignment of large corporations with political movements as a Corporate Social Responsibility strategy and how does political consumerism impact this decision? The purpose of this project is to examine how Nike used the ‘Dream Crazy’ campaign to piggyback off the Black Lives Matter movement as a public relations and marketing strategy as well as how political consumerism is shaping corporate social responsibility. How do political movements impact the corporate world and how do corporations impact political movements? Nike’s Colin Kaepernick campaign titled ‘Chasing Crazy’ was selected for this study as they are a prominent U.S. business and this campaign is considered one of the most successful PR and ad campaigns in recent history. The Colin Kaepernick campaign was specifically chosen because Kaepernick has evolved from an athlete to a political figure representing the Black Lives Matter movement. The campaign, including social media posts on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram and the press release were collected from September 5, 2018 to October 6, 2018. They were then coded for political alliance to a specific party and alliance to the Black Lives Matter movement through narrative analysis. In order to answer the question “what is the underlying message?”, the following steps were followed. The timeline of the campaign was mapped out, the backstory was identified and the function of each aspect of the campaign was defined. Through my research, I found consumerists are sparking companies to push for political change. We see that with the increase of CSR spending by large corporations, such as Nike did with the Kaepernick campaign. This new pressure is molding them into agents of social change and the idea that corporations have a duty to engage in politics is rising and the consumers are craving it. It might even be a better strategy to pick a side than it is to stay out of controversial issues, if it is done well, of course.

 

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