![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/colin-kaepernick.jpg?resize=370%2C247\")
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Though the news is just days old, the Kaepernick controversy dates back to 2016 when he began kneeling during the National Anthem. \u00a0Kaepernick made yet another appearance in the national news this year, however, when he launched a lawsuit against the NFL for colluding against him in order to prevent him from receiving a contract. <\/span><\/p>\n The arguments surrounding Kaepernick and his actions prove polarizing for many groups of people. \u00a0Nevertheless, Nike took the risk of signing the former football player in a move that ABC News believes is characteristic of the company\u2019s marketing style.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSome see the ads as a risk for the company, but experts say Nike has been known to embrace public controversy,\u201d (ABC News). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Even though this decision falls in line with Nike\u2019s previous behavior, the question remains: will the risk be worth the reward?<\/span><\/p>\n Kevin Draper, Julie Creswell, and Sapna Maheshwari of <\/span>The New York Times<\/span><\/i> believe that Nike is already reaping the benefits as the controversy of this week alone has generated an estimated $43 billion in free advertising for the company\u2019s products.<\/span><\/p>\n Members of the Fort Hays community share this view that a portion of Nike\u2019s decision to utilize Kaepernick was a grab at free advertising. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe part of me as a human wants to say, \u2018You know, they wanted to do it to bring light to the situation but the critic and the business side of me wants to say, \u2018Oh, let\u2019s get somebody who\u2019s controversial so we\u2019ll get more air time, more marketing,\u2019\u201d student, Zane Sweeten, said. <\/span><\/p>\n Dr. Ginger Loggins of the Informatics department echoes this sentiment. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNike is trying to be cool and Kaepernick is cool,\u201d Loggins said. \u00a0\u201cControversy is cool, particularly among millennials.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Though many share this common opinion when it comes to monetary motive, the debate regarding Kaepernick\u2019s actions and Nike\u2019s subsequent decision to work alongside the controversial figure has reached the halls of Fort Hays. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Some students, such as Averi Wilson, feel that Nike\u2019s choice negatively impacts their view of the company. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, I feel like it was a bad mistake because I lost respect for them because I don\u2019t really respect Kaepernick,\u201d Wilson said.<\/span><\/p>\n Sweeten, however, presents an opposing view. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was actually pretty ecstatic because I don\u2019t know personally what it feels like to be oppressed, to go through what they go through but I know what he stands for and I know that it\u2019s not him disrespecting the flag, like a lot of people say he is,\u201d Sweeten said. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s him trying to take a stand for the oppressed and I don\u2019t think a lot of people understand that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Loggins offers yet an alternative interpretation of the situation as she believes that the issue is more deeply rooted than Nike\u2019s deal with a polarizing football player. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think of it as saying anything about the statement,\u201d Loggins said. \u00a0\u201cI think the protest is because of the amount of racial inequity in our country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In the name of this inequality, Miami Dolphins wide receivers, Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson, both took a knee during the National Anthem prior to the team\u2019s season opener, Sunday, Sept. 9. \u00a0Kaepernick spoke out in support of the two athletes furthering the campaign he began two years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n Even as Americans take sides regarding this argument and Nike\u2019s support of Kaepernick, the market will tell the true outcome of this controversial decision. \u00a0Meanwhile, consumers will continue to monitor the media for the next tweet. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" STORY BY MAKENNA ALLEN Just one tweet and the debates began. \u00a0Was it right? Was it wrong? Was Nike\u2019s decision to sign former NFL quarterback… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":39921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Nike and Colin Kaepernick Stir Up Controversy in Newest Ad Campaign","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,3570],"tags":[11998,11996,2344,11997,11994,11407,11993,69,106,12001,11995,12000,11999,11419,10281,11991,12002,103,1495,290,350,11992],"class_list":["post-39920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics-news","tag-just-do-it","tag-albert-wilson","tag-america","tag-americans","tag-averi-wilson","tag-colin-kaepernick","tag-dr-ginger-loggins","tag-fhsu","tag-fort-hays-state-university","tag-julie-creswell","tag-kenny-stills","tag-kevin-draper","tag-national-anthem","tag-national-football-league","tag-nfl","tag-nike","tag-sapna-maheshwari","tag-tiger-media-network","tag-tigermedianet","tag-tmn","tag-twitter","tag-zane-sweeten"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/colin-kaepernick.jpg?fit=800%2C534&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39920"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39926,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39920\/revisions\/39926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}