While talking about socioeconomic issues and brands, a former colleague told me something like…
« Brands can’t get into political stuffs.
Brands won’t take the risk to alienate customers and certain people in order to protect their bottom-line ».
« Nike Inc (NKE.N) shares fell 2.8 percent as the company faced a backlash after it chose Colin Kaepernick, the first NFL player to kneel during the national anthem as a protest against racism, to participate in a new ad campaign. »
« Nike’s decision led to calls for a boycott of the company, with more than 42,000 people tweeting with the hashtag #NikeBoycott on Tuesday morning. Some users showed their disapproval by posting images and videos of themselves lighting their Nike products on fire. »
« For two years now, the NFL and its owners have desperately tried to silence Kaepernick and the movement he began. They blackballed the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and teammate Eric Reid. They threatened to fine or cut the players who joined them in protest. They created a ridiculous policy that only served to confuse matters more.
And for what? To go down on the wrong side of history?
[…]This is not some small, left-leaning company that has decided Kaepernick is on the side of angels in this fight. It is one of the world’s largest conglomerates, a setter of trends and arbiter of what’s cool. And it is one of the NFL’s biggest partners, the official apparel company of the league… »
Quoting Shannon Sharpe: « I think what Nike, one of the biggest global brands in all the world, has done it says ‘Colin Kaepernick, you are not alone’… They’ve done their homework now they’ve researched this and got all the numbers, all the analytics, they believe this is not gonna hurt their business… and say ‘Colin Kaepernick, we believe in your message, we believe in what you’re trying to do and we want to get on board, we want you on our board… we want to be a part of this, we want to be on the right side of history’… This is unbelievable, I’m a little bit surprised because this is still so polarizing but then I guess I shouldn’t be shocked because… Nike has always been polarizing… and you see it also tells me that Nike saying you know what, ‘we want athletes to have voices’… let him know he’s not alone and we’re in this fight with him. Kudos to Nike… »
« Ava DuVernay @ava: Would you sacrifice comfort, money and security for what you believe in? #ImWithKap »
As a brand, do you stand for racial equity and human rights?
G.
The author
Grégory Luaba Déome
Contributing to more inclusive workplaces
Follow: Twitter @cvs_congo | Blogs: LinkedIn and Talent Has No Race
More from me on Ethnostratification and Talent Advancement:
People Analytics when the N is too small
Multiculturalism in Europe failed?
What makes a great team?
Delivering through diversity
The 6 main obstacles to the hiring of talents of non-EU origins in the Brussels job market
The third Socioeconomic Monitoring (Employment & Origin, 2017)
Corporate Belgium – Europe: Ethnicity = Law of Inverse Relevance?
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Born in Congo, I am committed to developing more inclusive workplaces. My passion is to enable others to achieve their potential and to advance equity in corporate Brussels.
About eight years ago, a friend told me something like « in my company, they consider me as a high potential. I participated to the annual event of our industry, 500 people – la crème de la crème – and I was the only non-white in the room. A journalist even came to me and discreetly asked « what about upward mobility »? The problem is that in our industry, the majority of the workers at the bottom of the pyramid are non-whites. The higher you go in the hierarchy, the whiter it becomes. »
How to increase racial diversity at the top of corporate Brussels?
What is the diverse makeup or diversity demographics of your team overall? And of your management and board teams?
