Nike could have done so much better

As a marketing professional, I am disappointed about Nike's decision to make Colin "Take a Knee" Kaepernick the face of its latest advertising campaign.

The objective of the campaign, which features Kaepernick's mug and the headline, "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." is clear: To generate buzz for the brand by choosing a spokesperson who can offend as many people as possible.

Given its objective, Nike could have done so much better. For instance, the company could have chosen:




Adolf Hitler:  He sacrificed everything---Germany's reputation for the next millennium, not to mention six million Jews, to make sure the world knew where he stood.




Charles Manson: He sacrificed his freedom and the freedom of his followers who gleefully butchered nine people whose murders, he believed, would precipitate a war based on the Beatles' song, "Helter Skelter."




Jeffrey Dahmer: He raped, murdered, dismembered and ate 17 people between 1978 and 1991 and tragically sacrificed his life when he was beaten to death by a fellow inmate.




Jerry Sandusky: Sacrificed his career as an assistant coach at Penn State when he was charged with 52 counts of raping young boys.




Josef Stalin: As General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, it is estimated he sacrificed up to 15 million people who were executed or died in his gulags so he could prove that Communism was swell.

Osama bin Laden: Under his expert direction, the lives of 2,996 men, women and children were sacrificed on 9/11 to prove he was a man of God.

Mark Parker: Nike's CEO, who green lighted the Kaepernick campaign, may not know it yet but he has sacrificed billions in shareholder value, and will most likely be sacrificing his job.