The Weekend Mumbo: Crisis and opportunity often look the same

Nike had a race problem.

Granted, they had willingly waded right into the controversy, much as they did when they launched an advertising campaign featuring Lance Armstrong as his doping scandal swirled. Or when they doubled down on their Tiger Woods advertising as stories of extramarital affairs were heating up gossip columns.

This time, Nike had chosen Colin Kaepernick as the face of a new global campaign. In 2018, when Nike made this decision, Kaepernick was one of the most divisive players in American football. He’d been locked out of the NFL due to his decision to drop to one knee during the playing of the national anthem before matches, calling it a protest against police killings of African Americans, and other racial injustices done under the American flag.