Here's why more brands, like Nike with Colin Kaepernick, are openly liberal

[Throttlehead]

God save us if Trojan runs a campaign.

 

[Rational Poster]

"The Next Generation of Americans (Gen Z) May Be the Most Conservative Since WWII"


https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/...americans-gen-z-may-be-most-conservative-wwii

"MAY BE"

Written by a man who calls it same-sex "marriage".

I"m sure he's not biased at all and this is based on solid evidence rather than his own personal feelings and desires. It really helps that some of his "sources" are dead links and other "opinion" pieces.

 

[woodguyatl]

Well in this thread they are praising NIKE

If only it was possible to be good on some things and bad on others at the same time.

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

Successful companies know to lean progressive because progressive policy always win. Since the beginning of our country, each generation moves more and more progressively left as a whole.

Conservative values of any given generation eventually go by the wayside. It's not good business to resist progress.

 

[Hard To Tell]

This article explains why Nike and other brands are taking liberal political stances and why more brands will follow in the future. It also explains why conservative brands are all but doomed to failure.

• Nike will gain a lot more than it will lose from making Colin Kaepernick the face of an ad campaign.
• Wading into politics can still alienate customers. What's new is it can do a lot to attract them, too.
• Most brands' target consumer is younger and more liberal on social issues than the average voter — so political brands will tend to be liberal.

Michael Jordan probably never actually said "Republicans buy sneakers, too." But that apocryphal quote reflects a common sentiment for consumer product marketers: Better to stay away from political controversies so you can keep selling on both sides of the aisle.
Nike, which has drawn both praise and criticism for placing Colin Kaepernick at the center of its "Just Do It" anniversary campaign, is not following the maxim.

Its choice — along with the recent choices of other corporations to wade into political disputes, as with Delta's and Dick's Sporting Goods' recent brushes with gun-rights activists — tells us something about new political incentives facing brands.
This isn't "woke capital." Companies are maximizing profits as they always did, but they're responding to incentives that have shifted to encourage political participation by brands.

There is still a downside risk for brands that get political: They may alienate some of their customers. The people posting videos of themselves destroying their own bought-and-paid-for Nike sneakers may not buy new ones anytime soon.

What's new is brands are seeing a major upside risk. As more consumers come to expect brands to reflect their moral and political values, a brand that takes a side on a controversial issue can strengthen its bond with a consumer segment, making them willing to buy more or to buy at a higher price.

But there is an asymmetry: This mostly works if you engage from the left, not the right.

Why brands are liberal now
After the Delta-NRA flap, I wrote this:
"Socially liberal segments of the public punch above their weight as potential customers (and, in some cases, as potential employees) for these companies. Think about who companies most want to advertise to: people who have a lot of disposable income and aren't too old. This advertiser preference is why television ratings are reported in terms of adults 25 to 54 (or sometimes even 18 to 49) and it's why networks like Bravo tout their unusually upscale viewer base to prospective advertisers. Appealing to senior citizens is a good way to win an election, but it's not a good way to sell most consumer products and services."

Unfortunately for conservatives, markets for consumer products are not democracies. As American politics gets more polarized by age and less polarized by income, most brands' target customer will tend to move left relative to the country's political median, even as the average voter sits to the right of the whole country's political median.
For example, a poll conducted for The Washington Post in Mayfound that 63% of respondents over age 50 thought it was "never" appropriate to protest by kneeling during the national anthem; only 38% of respondents under 30 said the same.
Younger Americans are also more ethnically diverse than older Americans, so a company trying to sell to young people is naturally selling into a much more diverse "electorate" than a political party running a national election in which the average congressional district is significantly whiter than the country as a whole.
So, think about the demographic of who's most upset about Kaepernick's protest movement, and then think about how much an athletic-apparel company needs to concern itself with the opinions of senior citizens, and then think about why Nike thinks this ad campaign will improve its sales.

There is also the problem that conservatives are desperately uncool.

You'd think some brands would try to get on the conservative side of big political issues — you make the conservative sneaker, I'll make the liberal sneaker, and both of us can enjoy higher profit margins because we don't have to compete with each other on price. Alas, the conservative shoemaker will face a coolness deficit with not-especially-political consumers, not to mention with the left-leaning creative professionals he'll need to market the shoes in the first place.

Finally, as politics has gotten more polarized by education and urbanization, it's likely the most influential consumers — the "connectors" and "mavens" and "salesmen" Malcolm Gladwell writes about in "The Tipping Point" — are more disproportionately left-of-center than they used to be. This is an advantage for liberal-identified brands and a hindrance for conservative-identified ones.

That is, the "Big Sort" that has made the congressional map more difficult for Democrats is simultaneously increasing liberals' influence in the market for consumer products and services.
One cheer for woke brands
Where politics has a very direct bearing on the bottom line — trade policy, labor policy, tax policy — you can expect Nike and other companies to prioritize those direct effects over public image, whether that means aligning with the right or the left.
So, if you're a liberal, you shouldn't expect Nike to be a reliable partner on every issue — and you shouldn't be naive about how the political interests of stockholders will often diverge from those of consumers, workers, or the broad public.

But politics is about coalitions. Someone doesn't have to be a reliable partner to be a useful one. Liberals should welcome Nike to the resistance, while critically watching its future actions.
https://www.businessinsider.com/nike-colin-kaepernick-ad-brands-more-liberal-2018-9?op=1

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

Nike will be fine, everyone knows republicans only wear new balance or saucony

Republicans only wear crocs.

 

[Hard To Tell]

"The Next Generation of Americans (Gen Z) May Be the Most Conservative Since WWII"


https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/...americans-gen-z-may-be-most-conservative-wwii

Yep, forget about 'liberals' and boomer conservatives, they are a lost cause. But there is a new generation of right wingers and nationalists coming of age in America and throughout Europe who are socially conscious and strongly oppose the wars for profit, cut throat big business being given free reign, the unfair cronyism, profits before people, soulless consumerism, the lie of equality and diversity being a strength, along with the rest of the globalist corporate agenda.

 

[WalkenWouldOwn]

 

[Karp]

It seems the right finally cares about child/slave labor. That's great!

 

[curryjunkie]

Idiots.....Both the left and the right need to stop focusing on bullshit kneeling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't take opinions from texans seriously. Just secede already you're dumbing down the country.

Yep, forget about 'liberals' and boomer conservatives, they are a lost cause. But there is a new generation of right wingers and nationalists coming of age in America and throughout Europe who are socially conscious and strongly oppose the wars for profit, cut throat big business being given free reign, the unfair cronyism, profits before people, soulless consumerism, the lie of equality and diversity being a strength, along with the rest of the globalist corporate agenda.

this guy? .....

or these guys?

maybe its this chick.....

 

[Rational Poster]

this guy? .....

or these guys?

maybe its this chick.....

Would the left most Nazi girl.

 

[MastercraftG]

Some seriously questionable claimed statistics here, to say the least. To begin with, you took the percentage of homicides that are committed by blacks and then erroneously stretched that out to all crime, which is simply incorrect. You're displaying your own ignorance and lack of understanding of statistics and hard data. "99 percent of the blacks killed by cops did some stupid shit like reach in their pockets when given a direct order not to." Is that a fact, doctor?

Thats why I stated "roughly" 50 percent across all of those crimes. (Rape, homicide, assault robbery). Categorically some of those percentages are even higher. It actually pisses me off when I start digging and find out the ridiculous embarassing statistics.

You're right....99 percent maybe didn't dig into their pockets when told not to. A large percentage already had a weapon and were armed and dangerous forcing police to kill them.

Being ignorant and denying facts that are right in front of you is kinda silly. Maybe you should ask yourself why you are doing this. And what good your denial does for society.

 

[MastercraftG]

Get
Together
Kill
Racism
Wear
Nike

Or GTKRWN for short.

How about realism. Let's get real shall we?

 

[Devout Pessimist]

It seems the right finally cares about child/slave labor. That's great!

It seems the Left no longer cares about child/slave labor (if they ever did). Lefties care more about a privileged multi-millionaire ex-football player making even more money from a company that exploits and oppresses people to make profit. #WOKE

 

[Devout Pessimist]

 

[AlexDB9]

More like brainwashed. Adults underestimate how intuitive kids are, far too often. There are a lot of kids/adults who get roped into far left (those are not liberals) nonsense, but I think enough see right though it, which brings us to the culture war we're in now

btw, Colin is a fucking moron

Nike must be pro Trump secretly lol

This is why I can’t take anything this man says or stands for. He wants to say he doesn’t agree with what castro did to his people but agrees that he furthered education in Cuba?? If he actually knew what is taught in Cuban schools he wouldn’t say foolish things like that. This is also why I can’t take anyone serious if they have a che/sankara/castro av here much less if you actually wear that shit to be a “rebel”

 

[ultramanhyata]

Now that Nike has hired their arch-enemy, Kapperdick, the right has suddenly become woke about US corporate exploitation of third world labor.

 

[Karp]

It seems the Left no longer cares about child/slave labor (if they ever did). Lefties care more about a privileged multi-millionaire ex-football player making even more money from a company that exploits and oppresses people to make profit. #WOKE

I stopped buying Nike products about mid 90s, due to its business practices, and I still don't support them.

 

[SammyPops]

Business, buy for a dollar and sell for two.

 

[Diogenes of Sinope]

The real reason: leftists buy more useless shit like jordans to help stroke their narcissistic egos. Conservatives just need a home, Food on the table, and a family. So they realize their consumerbase is almost entirely liberal, so there is nothing to lose