Nike’s anti-racism ad draws praise and criticism, as other brands weigh in on George Floyd's death

Nike's ad addressing the police-involved death of George Floyd, is drawing widespread praise online—including from some competitors—but also some scorn, with some critics accusing the sportswear giant of commercializing the tragedy. The company—which released the 60-second spot from Wieden+Kennedy Portland on Friday evening—is among a large group of brands and marketing industry professionals weighing in on the tragedy, as protests continue nationally and in Minneapolis, where Floyd, a black man, died six days ago after a white police officer kneeled on his neck. Nike's ad, which was released to its social media channels, twists its long-used tagline to encourage Americans to not turn their back on racism, and “For Once, Don’t Do it.” It’s is being widely shared online, even by competitor Adidas, as well as by celebrities including Mindy Kaling and Caleb McLaughlin. Together is how we move forward. ⁣Together is how we make change. https://t.co/U1nmvMhxB2— adidas (at 🏡) (@adidas) May 30, 2020 Not everyone is a fan though, showing the risk brands take when weighing in on social issues. “For once, don’t take advantage of a social event and turn it into an ad campaign for yourself,” reads one comment on Nike’s Instagram post of its ad. “Meaningless if they don’t back it up with action. Talk is cheap,” reads another. Yet another: “You’re using the death of an innocent man to sell your products.” Several commentators turned the conversation to Nike’s workforce. "Let’s all be a part of the change in which Nike stops using sweatshops and underpaying workers," reads one comment. The company for years has dealt with criticism of the working conditions in its factories. On its website, Nike dedicates a page to outlining progress it says it has made to improve labor conditions, including forbidding child labor and "compensation sufficient to meet their basic needs and provide some discretionary income." Cindy Gallop, ad industry veteran and equality rights activist, tweeted about the lack of racial diversity on Nike’s executive leadership team. She linked to a page on Nike's website showing 10 top executives at the company, all of whom are white. Hey @Nike, 'Don't pretend there's not a problem in America.' Not one Black person on your executive leadership team: https://t.co/59e7o4DMgx for a company that's made billions out of Black sports people and consumers. Change THAT. #DiversityAndInclusion #UntilWeAllWin https://t.co/yGNicx1JJ8— Cindy Gallop (@cindygallop) May 30, 2020 A Nike spokeswoman noted that Melanie Harris, a black woman who serves as the company's VP of strategy and development, is part of the executive leadership team, reporting to President and CEO John Donahoe. The top executives at Nike-owned Converse and Jordan Brand are both black men. "We continue to sharpen our focus on hiring more black leaders across all levels at the company, creating a strong brand with this community and driving strong hiring results year over year," the spokeswoman stated in an email. She also noted that Nike has "increased VP-level representation for U.S. underrepresented groups by two percentage points to 21 percent. While this is good progress, we know there is more work to do. We will continue to increase representation and strengthen our culture of belonging." Other brands are joining Nike in releasing their own cries for equality. Many are sharing bold declarations against black backgrounds and are seeing conflicted followers respond with either praise or scorn. Of those brands making statements, few are supporting their statements with actions they plan on taking. But some are, including YouTube, which pledges $1 million in support of "efforts to address social justice." Bumble says it's making donations to the AAPI Civic Fund and the NAACP, and looking into how it can make "policy and product improvements to address racism and unconscious bias," among other steps. The Ace Hotel, Museum of Contemporary Art and MIlk are encouraging people to donate to funds that support communities in need. EA Sports is delaying its first look at its Madden 21 game. Adidas View this post on Instagram Take action. Things won’t change unless we create that change. A post shared by adidas (at 🏡) (@adidas) on May 30, 2020 at 1:15am PDT Reebok View this post on Instagram To the black community: We see you. We stand in solidarity with you. This can no longer be the status quo. A post shared by Reebok Classic (@reebokclassics) on May 30, 2020 at 11:01am PDT NFL EA Sports An official statement from EA SPORTS pic.twitter.com/MKdgJjvKJB— Madden NFL 20 (@EAMaddenNFL) May 31, 2020 YouTube We stand in solidarity against racism and violence. When members of our community hurt, we all hurt. We’re pledging $1M in support of efforts to address social injustice.— YouTube (@YouTube) May 30, 2020 Amazon pic.twitter.com/yI4MYEDz4C— Amazon (@amazon) May 31, 2020 Netflix To be silent is to be complicit. Black lives matter. We have a platform, and we have a duty to our Black members, employees, creators and talent to speak up.— Netflix (@netflix) May 30, 2020 Disney pic.twitter.com/2ADW4KGmy5— Disney (@Disney) May 31, 2020 AT&T Our advocacy toward equality and inclusivity continues today and will for the future. pic.twitter.com/gpMYSXKTX2— AT&T (@ATT) May 31, 2020 Twitter Racism does not adhere to social distancing.Amid the already growing fear and uncertainty around the pandemic, this week has again brought attention to something perhaps more pervasive: the long-standing racism and injustices faced by Black and Brown people on a daily basis. 🧵 pic.twitter.com/8zKPlDnacY— Twitter Together (@TwitterTogether) May 29, 2020 Bumble View this post on Instagram We’ve had a lot of tough conversations within our company about how to respond to the injustices of the past week, and the systemic racism that confronts our country and our Bumble community. Bumble has always had a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to racism, hatred, and bigotry of any kind — both as a business and on our platforms, including within our app. Our priority is to do the work. As a company, and as a community, we’ve made some immediate decisions to prioritize the wellbeing of our employees, many of whom are hurting. 👉We’re expanding our mental health guidance for Bumble employees to ensure they have the space and support to process traumatic news events. 👉We’re taking a close look internally at how we can consistently facilitate open conversations about racism and violence, not just during a news cycle. 👉We’re making donations to the AAPI Civic Fund and the NAACP, non-profits led by, respectively, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and black Americans. We will continue to evaluate all of our non-profit donations and partnerships through a lens of intersectionality. 👉We’re looking at how we can make product and policy improvements to address racism and unconscious bias, led by our internal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion solution squads. 👉We’ll continue our work with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to root out hate speech within our app, employing artificial intelligence to identify hate symbols and using the ADL’s research and terminology as our standard. 👉If you experience any form of racism on Bumble, please use our Block and Report feature so we can investigate each case appropriately. Your safety is paramount, especially during this time of heightened fear and targeted harassment. You can also reach out to our team for support at any time (bumble.com/safety). We know we have work to do. We are listening. This isn’t a one-off post. More to come. A post shared by Bumble (@bumble) on May 29, 2020 at 5:02pm PDT TikTok pic.twitter.com/14AeOCP5va— TikTok (@tiktok_us) May 30, 2020 Under Armour View this post on Instagram One playing field. One voice. One future where we’re truly equal. Because united, we win. A post shared by Under Armour (@underarmour) on May 29, 2020 at 11:35am PDT Peloton The Black community is hurting. Our Black Members, instructors, music partners and employees are hurting. #BlackLivesMatter, and it’s time to take action. To start, we're making a $500,000 donation to NAACP LDF. We have more work to do. Will you join us? pic.twitter.com/SXaQWzljCt— Peloton (@onepeloton) May 31, 2020 Beats by Dre View this post on Instagram A post shared by Beats by Dre (@beatsbydre) on May 29, 2020 at 4:37pm PDT Salesforce We stand with the Black community against racism, violence, and hate. Now more than ever we must support one another as allies and speak up for justice and equality. pic.twitter.com/ve3Jheyymd— Salesforce (@salesforce) May 28, 2020 Target in response to closing stores in Minneapolis due to protests and looting View this post on Instagram “We are a community in pain. That pain is not unique to the Twin Cities—it extends across America. And as a team we’ve vowed to face pain with purpose.” Click the link in our bio to read a note from Target CEO Brian Cornell. A post shared by Target (@target) on May 29, 2020 at 7:47pm PDT Levi's The events of the past week have shined a spotlight on the systemic racism and injustices directed at the Black community throughout our nation’s history. pic.twitter.com/WIcpzRXBeZ— Levi's® (@LEVIS) June 1, 2020 Warner Music Group Say my name. pic.twitter.com/FHFrWoSnzw— Warner Music Group (@warnermusic) May 29, 2020 The Daily Show (2/2) Trevor on George Floyd and the Minneapolis protests:“If you felt unease watching that Target being looted, try to imagine how it must feel for black Americans when they watch themselves being looted every single day. Police in America are looting black bodies.” pic.twitter.com/oO6s8sNY44— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) May 30, 2020 MTV #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/q4shGSKFH2— MTV (@MTV) May 31, 2020 SNL Here are ways to help: https://t.co/pAuzXQL6jJ— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) May 31, 2020 P&G's My Black is Beautiful Milk View this post on Instagram Ligon made the first of his neon America sculptures in 2008, a moment of tremendous optimism but, simultaneously, of intractable wars, severe economic collapse, and deepening racial, political, and class divisions. By placing the signs face down on the floor, Ligon subverts both the basic purpose of light (to illuminate) and the basic purpose of language (to communicate), making the subject, America, hard to see and hard to understand. . We stand with our community in demanding justice for George Floyd, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others. Link in bio on ways you can take action today. . [Glenn Ligon, Untitled (America, America), 2015, Neon and blackened steel, 10 × 234 × 111 in. (25.4 × 594.36 × 281.94 cm), Each: 10 × 125 × 22 in. (25.4 × 317.5 × 55.88 cm), The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Purchased with funds provided by the Acquisition and Collection Committee] A post shared by The Museum of Contemporary Art (@moca) on May 29, 2020 at 1:50pm PDT Ace Hotel View this post on Instagram This must end. “Black is Love is Black” is a portrait of Bayard Rustin with 100% of proceeds going to Black Lives Matter. Donate directly to @blklivesmatter and to @mnfreedomfund, @blackvisionscollective and @reclaimtheblock to support those on the ground. #georgefloyd #blacklivesmatter A post shared by Ace Hotel (@acehotel) on May 29, 2020 at 4:04pm PDT The Museum of Contemporary Art (Moca) View this post on Instagram #BlackLivesMatter. Text 'Floyd' to 55156 via @colorofchange. A post shared by Milk (@milk) on May 29, 2020 at 2:45pm PDT The ad community is coming together to share their own messages and show their support for people fighting for equality. Many executives are sharing their donations to various funds that support communities in pain, and encouraging others to do the same. 72 and Sunny View this post on Instagram The people of 72andSunny stand in solidarity with the black community within our network and across America. We stand with them in the pain, anguish, fatigue and fear they feel just waking up and existing in this country every day. But racism in America cannot be their burden to bear alone. This is the responsibility of white people too. We recognize our company has more work to do when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Educating ourselves and talking about race and anti-racism has to be an active practice among white people, and we commit to it now. #BlackLivesMatter #GeorgeFloyd #SayTheirNames #SilenceIsConsent A post shared by 72andSunny (@72andsunny_) on May 29, 2020 at 3:14pm PDT God-is Rivera, global director of culture and community at Twitter Just donated $40 to the Atlanta Solidarity Fund. Anyone who has the means currently, please feel free to match my contribution 🙏🏽 https://t.co/vNJlmmNn4c https://t.co/rC2xs5OhoJ— God-is Rivera (@GodisRivera) May 30, 2020 Thas Naseemuddeen, chief executive officer at Omelet the fam that matters. love you guys. ❤️ and again - if you can - @MNFreedomFund could use your support today. Pass it on. 🙏🏽 https://t.co/KUc4vm0m0A— Thas Naseemuddeen (@thaz7) May 29, 2020 Bonin Bough, founder and chief growth officer at Bonin Ventures View this post on Instagram Given the current situation I thought this photo taken by my dad says it best. There are no words that can express the level of police brutality, racism and fear that I have seen and lived during my 42 years on this earth. I speak little about it but live constantly reminded that I am not welcome here by some. But the good news is I am here, we are here and we will continue to fight, to be role models, to teach, to change society for the better with those of all colors who share our same dream. A post shared by Bonin Bough (@bonin) on May 28, 2020 at 11:52am PDT Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia View this post on Instagram We need systematic change, it’s just unbearable to see this much consistent evil on daily basis, the level of hate is unexceptionable! Evil comes in many shapes and sizes. Anyone who watches the video and isn’t completely broken must question their NorthStar. #georgefloyd deserved better, the millions that haven’t been filmed deserve better. Aren’t we all tired yet? This act isn’t something you get fired for, it’s time for real repercussions, the lack of them has lead to so much pain. This man couldn’t breathe, every kind person should feel the same. #georgefloyd #ripgeorgefloyd #icantbreathe Oh and I genuinely hope that we as a society are always ready to record hate and evil at every moment, film it all, all, all!!!! A post shared by Gary Vay-Ner-Chuk (@garyvee) on May 27, 2020 at 8:38am PDT Contributing: E.J. Schultz

Nike’s anti-racism ad draws praise and criticism, as other brands weigh in on George Floyd's death

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