The Fraternal Order of Police blasted Nike’s decision to feature Colin Kaepernick in its new ad campaign on Wednesday, labeling the views of the former NFL player as hostile and offensive to law enforcement.
Kaepernick, who initiated the protests by league players against police brutality toward African-Americans by kneeling during the pre-game national anthem, hasn’t been signed by an NFL team since. His effort sparked outrage among Republicans and prompted President Trump to label the protests as anti-American.
But Kaepernick also drew criticism for wearing socks with police officers depicted as pigs, a statement he later said was meant to highlight the “rogue cops that are allowed to hold positions in police departments” that undermine “cops that have the right intentions.”
In a statement, national FOP President Chuck Canterbury said Kaepernick and others have the right to express their “uninformed and inflammatory” views and that law enforcement has a duty to defend that right. The group, which touts itself as the largest U.S. police union, declined requests to boycott Nike because of the new ad campaign.
[Related: Trump says Nike ‘getting killed’ by Colin Kaepernick ad campaign]
“In our experience, boycotts and similar exercises do not succeed and often serve only to enrich the company – which is not what we want to do,” Canterbury said. “If Nike chooses to create an ad campaign featuring a former quarterback who describes cops as ‘pigs,'” he added “they are free to do so.”
Canterbury, invoking the tag-line that accompanied the Kaepernick ad, said the 381 police officers killed in the line of duty since 2016 “believed in something and sacrificed everything.”
A Nike spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. law enforcement has faced heavy criticism for the number of deaths of unarmed black men by police officers.
In one such case, Stephon Clark was killed in Sacramento earlier this year when two officers fired 20 shots seconds after assuming his cellphone was a firearm. The president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association later said the shooting was “legally justified.” Soon after that incident, another unarmed African-American male was killed in Houston.
So far in 2018, 684 people have been shot and killed by law enforcement, according to a Washington Post tracker.
The new Nike ads have reignited the debate over NFL protests against such incidents. Some customers of the Beaverton, Ore.-based apparel chain took to Twitter earlier this week to express outrage by burning or destroying Nike products. Critics pressed those individuals to instead donate the clothes to the poor.
[Opinion: Dear Nike: Colin Kaepernick didn’t sacrifice ‘everything,’ and it wasn’t for a good cause]
