As we know it, contemporary art emerges from the complex issues that shape our diverse, global, and rapidly changing world. Many of the works of art consist of exploring any cultural or personal identities to refine art itself. During the process of creating, many artists raise questions without giving a solid answer which leads to curiosity. According to Heller, mainstream is somewhat derived from underground but is altered and folded into the mainstream. Contemporary design does the same to create vast art in different mediums that are far from mainstream all the while containing an underground aspect. This makes contemporary art unique and configured to what they think. Having underground ideas in mind makes contemporary art mainstream to a younger audience as well as the older generation.

Nike which is known for being a sports brand for sneakers and clothing, took a different turn by making an underground statement of controversy and huge risk for their advertisement to bring in revenue for the brand itself. Although Nike does propose mainstream advertising ideas, they have athletes to raise political awareness as well as through their advertisements. We can take Colin Kaepernick’s advertisement to be controversial with having him as the star of this Nike Ad. In August of 2016, Kaepernick decided to sit during the singing of the anthem, and then in 2018 he started kneeling, to protest for racial injustice and police brutality. Since Kaepernick had a platform to fight for social equality, Nike had Kaepernick bring awareness to what he was doing, and people had bought Nike products to show support. On the contrary, people also condemned his protest to be disrespectful to the military and country.

Nike took an underground approach that brought a negative response which was a huge risk for consumers as the hashtag #nikeboycott became a trend and motivated people to not purchase Nike products. The people that had been associated with a negative impact towards Nike have egotistical and stakeholder-driven motives. Despite the trend that had a negative impact, Nike’s online sales were up by 31% in the three day period after the ad was launched. Nike in general had come to terms with promoting political messages as it reaches out to younger audiences on a community and societal level. The people who had been associated with a positive impact towards Nike have value and strategy driven motives. Nike in the long-run has kept up with controversy and huge risks and will continue to do so in the future to build their brand and make revenue because any kind of publicity (regardless of negativity) is good publicity.

Citation

  1. CNBC, “How Nike Turns Controversy Into Dollars,” Sep 19, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvkf88eSTrI&t=342s
  • Ferrer, Joshua. Colin Kaepernick & Nike,2019

http://joshferrer.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/PR-Case-Study.pdf

  • Public Relations Review, Volume 46, Issue 2, 2020, 101856, ISSN 0363-8111, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2019.101856. (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0363811119302590)