Trump says that Nike is 'getting absolutely killed' over its Colin Kaepernick ad, but the boycott movement might already be dying
- Nike's new "Just Do It" ad featuring Colin Kaepernick has polarized viewers, with some celebrating and others calling for a boycott.
- One of the ad's most prominent detractors is President Donald Trump, who tweeted on Wednesday that Nike is "getting absolutely killed with anger and boycotts."
- In fact, it is actually the boycott movement that is already losing steam before it even got started, according to data from Tickertags, which tracks discussion on social media.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump tweeted about Nike's polarizing new ad featuring Colin Kaepernick.
"Nike is getting absolutely killed with anger and boycotts. I wonder if they had any idea that it would be this way?" he tweeted.
The overall social-media sentiment has been more positive than negative, according to Apex Marketing Group data reported by Bloomberg.
But even better news for Nike is that as the dust has settled, the threats of boycott have died down faster than comparable calls to boycott companies, according to Tickertags, a firm that analyzes social media for frequency of mentions of keywords.
"From a broader perspective, mention frequency of the tag [boycott] is showing a noticeable spike in the near term, but falls short of other recent boycott movements," Tickertag analysts wrote in a note.
"Fewer relative conversations about boycotting are taking place now than in the past, which doesn't support a strong negative call against Nike."
In fact, mention of the word "boycott" in conjunction with Nike on social media is only the sixth-highest that Tickertags has seen in the last six years. The mention frequency is notably beat by two recent Starbucks-related boycott calls and a call to boycott the NFL.
Since the two calls to boycott Starbucks - one that arose after two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia store, and one that was related to the company's pledge to hire refugees - did not materially affect sales, Tickertags has come to the conclusion that this call for a Nike boycott likely will not affect sales either.
Mention of the term "boycott" on social media has already fallen significantly in relation to Nike, which supports that conclusion.
So even though some louder people have made a show out of burning their Nike shoes on social media, it seems the company isn't likely to see a drop in sales.
Read more about Nike's Colin Kaepernick ad:
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- Nike's polarizing new Colin Kaepernick ad shows it can succeed where Starbucks and Target failed
- The NFL released a statement backing players protesting social issues, including Colin Kaepernick
- 'Few companies can afford to anger that many consumers and survive': Branding experts say Nike may have gotten exactly what it wanted with its controversial new Colin Kaepernick ad