Louisiana town bans purchases of all Nike products
Nike sales have taken a 31 percent spike since it launched an ad campaign with former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick last week, but you won’t find a dollar spent on the swoosh from the city of Kenner, Louisiana.
The suburb of New Orleans has effectively banned any city money from being spent on Nike products as of September 5th, according to a private memo sent from town mayor Ben Zahn.
The memo, which leaked on social media, states in part, “under no circumstances will any Nike product or any product with the Nike logo be purchased for use or delivery at any city of Kenner recreation facility.”
Memo indicates Kenner mayor has banned Nike products for city booster clubshttps://t.co/X9pu00LjzR pic.twitter.com/UZBYtCekme
— Mary Staes (@StaesNews) September 9, 2018
No mention of Kaepernick
While the memo doesn’t explicitly call out the presence of Kaepernick in Nike ads as the reason for the ban, it’s hard to avoid connecting the dots. On September 3rd, Nike announced Kaepernick as the face of the new “Just Do It” campaign.
BREAKING: Nike had been paying Colin Kaepernick all along, waiting for the right moment. That moment is now, as he becomes the face of the company’s 30th anniversary of the “Just Do It” campaign. pic.twitter.com/uccpDStbq5
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) September 3, 2018
On September 5th, Nike debuted it’s first commercial of the campaign with a voiceover from Kaepernick and an inspiring message.
That’s the same day that Zahn sent the memo banning purchases from Nike in Kenner. Even more curious is the fact that memo was not made public by City Hall.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune attempted to reach Zahn on Sunday but received a comment from his office and was unable to speak with him.
Protests against police brutality continue
Around the time the memo began circulating, the NFL was kicking off the first slate of games on Sunday afternoon. And while there weren’t too many players kneeling in protest of police brutality and racial injustice during the national anthem, two Miami Dolphins players continued to take a knee.
That earned praise on social media from Kaepernick himself.
The protests took place without issues as the NFL entered Week 1 with no plans to enact any anthem policy this season.
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Blake Schuster is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at blakeschuster@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Schustee
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