“Woke-Washing” a Brand An analysis of socially progressive marketing by Nike on Twitter and the user response to it

Nadim Herbert

Department of ALM Theses within Digital Humanities Master’s degree project (one year), 15 credits, 2020, no. 2 Author Nadim Herbert.

Title “Woke-Washing” A Brand: An analysis of socially progressive marketing campaigns by Nike on Twitter and the user response to it.

Supervisor Olle Sköld

Abstract This study examines two marketing campaigns on the social media platform Twitter by the brand Nike, with the campaigns involving American football player Colin Kaepernick and tennis player Serena Williams respectively. The study specifically explores how Nike utilizes socially and politically progressive values in these marketing campaigns and how users then respond to it on Twitter, with the source material consisting of four Twitter-posts, two by Nike and one each by the two athletes involved, as well as the replies by other Twitter-users to those posts. The replies to these four Twitter-posts were then sorted into reply types for each post, in other words categorized according to the sentiments and attitudes in the replies that were most prominently and frequently expressed. A grounded theory approach was used thereafter in order to apply relevant theoretical perspectives to the reply types and original posts, through which the source material was split into several analytical themes. The theoretical perspectives used in the analysis were Rosalind Gill’s postfeminist sensibility, Ron Von Burg and Paul E. John- son’s writings on nostalgia as a critical perspective, Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s floating signifier con- cept, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva¨s racial grammar theory, Susan Cahn’s writings on female athlete stereotypes, and Lauren Copeland’s writings on postmaterialism. The analysis showed that Nike utilized socially progressive causes such as racial and gender equality in an individualistic way by conveying them through the identities of Williams and Kaepernick in their Twitter-posts. It also showed that the replies to the marketing in turn also focused on the identities of the athletes, with repliers either declaring their approval or disapproval of Nike and their marketing campaigns based on whether they were ethically and ideologically aligned with the progressive causes and values that the athletes were proxies for in their respective marketing campaigns. Ultimately, this study revealed an individualization of political expression on social media, both when a corporation like Nike uses it to improve their brand image and in how individuals engage with political and social issues.

Key words Woke-washing, Nike, Serena Williams, Colin Kaepernick, Marketing, Twitter.

2 Table of contents

Introduction ...... 5 Purpose Statement and Research Questions ...... 6 Literature Review ...... 7 Method and Material ...... 9 Source Material ...... 9 Ethical Considerations and Methodology ...... 11 Theory ...... 14 Disposition of Analysis ...... 17 1. Identity, History and Nostalgia – Just “Woke-Wash” it ...... 18 Identity Politics in Marketing ...... 18 American Nostalgia...... 22 2. The Response – American Values and the Brand Image of Nike, Kaepernick and Williams ...... 26 American Nationalism ...... 26 Femininity and Race ...... 30 Boycott or “Buycott” ...... 32 Discussion and Conclusions ...... 36 Bibliography ...... 41 Sources ...... 41 Social Media, Twitter-posts ...... 41 In the thesis author’s possession ...... 41 Literature ...... 41 Appendix 1: Twitter-post by Nike Referring to Williams ...... 45 Appendix 2: Twitter-post by Nike Referring to Kaepernick ...... 45 Appendix 3: Twitter post by Williams ...... 46 Appendix 4: Twitter-post by Kaepernick...... 46 Appendix 5: List of reply types identified in source material...... 46 Appendix 6: Table outlining structure of analysis section ...... 47

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4 Introduction1

In recent times, the term “woke” (derived from “awake”), which originated from within African American communities, has gained popularity in general but espe- cially on social media. The term refers to people becoming aware of societal injus- tices like racism and sexism (merriam-webster.com, “woke”). A related term that has also become more popular recently is “woke-washing”, referring to when brands and corporations appropriate politically and socially progressive values, causes and terminology mainly in order to market their products, and in some cases also for the purpose of concealing exploitative business practices. This is an issue that has gained prominence in mainstream media lately (Jones 2019; Sheehan 2019), and one of the main arenas where these marketing campaigns are carried out is social media. Therefore, this study examines “woke-washed” marketing cam- paigns on Twitter as well as the user response to them. Specifically, the focus is on the social media marketing of one brand, Nike (mainly known for athletic apparel) and their marketing collaborations on the social media platform Twitter with Afri- can American athletes Serena Williams and Colin Kaepernick. There are also a few reasons for focusing on these specific cases. Firstly, it is because Nike is one of the biggest commercial companies in the world. This means that analyzing how they utilize progressive causes in their marketing will illustrate how companies of that stature, with that level of global influence co-opt those issues and for what purposes. Nike is also noteworthy in relation to this topic considering that they were recently used as an example of a “politically neutral” brand in a study about politics in branding (Matos et al. 2017, p.129). That perception seems to be changing (Boyd 2018), and hopefully this thesis will shed light on why Nike went in that direction. I also specifically examine their social media collaborations with Williams, and Kaepernick due to both being well-known figures globally who are also outspoken on societal inequality, which poses relevant questions concerning the boundary between marketing and activism for public figures like these athletes, and how blurring that boundary might impact how people perceive them and the brand they associate with. With all this considered, another potentially useful aspect of this study is that it examines marketing specifically on social media, an area where brands can reach out to people in a very direct way. Out of the most popular social media platforms, Twitter allows the most direct line of textual communication and debate (users can respond directly to each other in “threads” rather than just commenting below a post

1 Certain parts of this introductory chapter are taken verbatim from a research proposal that I wrote for the course Theories and Methods in Digital Humanities as part of the Master’s Programme in Digital Humanities at Uppsala University. That paper and the module were intended specifically for the development of a thesis topic, this thesis is built on the foundation of that proposal.

5 like on Facebook or Instagram), which is why my source material will be Twitter posts. That kind of direct dialogue gives a clearer view of how brands “woke-wash” themselves in order to connect with people and how users in turn respond to it di- rectly. And while there have been studies that focus on politics in branding (Strach 2016) and studies that focus on political expression on social media (Literat & Kligler-Vilenchik 2019), there seems to be fewer studies that synthesize these as- pects by looking at the political expression that occurs in the interaction between political branding on social media and the political expression of users in response, which is another reason for why this study is needed. To conclude, social media platforms like Twitter and the social interactions it enables play a big part in shaping many people’s worldviews, (Twitter has 330 million monthly active users accord- ing to statista.com) which makes it vital to examine the ideological mechanisms and impact of these marketing campaigns.

Purpose Statement and Research Questions The purpose of this study is to explore what the most prominent sentiments and values are in Nike’s communication of progressive political causes such as feminism and anti-racism through marketing campaigns on the social media platform Twitter and in the user response to the campaigns. The marketing campaigns in question where collaborations with athletes Serena Williams and Colin Kaepernick. The study consists of a grounded theory analysis of the market- ing campaigns themselves, including promotional posts by the athletes, as well as the user replies to these Twitter posts in order to give a comprehensive view of the sentiments and values that are being generated as well as their implications. The study is based on the following research questions:

What type of socially progressive values and sentiments are communicated by Nike as well as Williams and Kaepernick on Twitter in their marketing collaborations?

How does Nike and the athletes in question communicate these progressive values and sentiments on social media, what are the most prominent patterns?

What are the most prominent patterns in the users’ political expression on Twitter in response to these marketing campaigns, what kind of values and sentiments are expressed?

6 Literature Review In this literature review, I will give an overview of previous research on this topic. This overview includes 18 sources in total, evenly divided into three key themes identified in the content of the sources in order to provide a structure for this liter- ature review that is coherent and congruent with the sources themselves rather than superficially enforced upon them (Rowley & Slack 2004). The identified themes are all related to the focus of my study, namely, to explore how Nike communicates progressive values and sentiments through marketing campaigns on Twitter and the user response to it. The themes identified in these sources are then the study of political expression on social media, progressive values and causes in branding, and lastly users’ polit- ical expression on social media in response to activism and socially/politically pro- gressive values communicated by brands. These themes structure this literature re- view in a way where sources that address partial aspects of my research focus are discussed to begin with. So, political expression by users on social media and pro- gressive value branding respectively, ending with a discussion of sources that syn- thesize these aspects by analyzing progressive branding on social media and the user response to it. This structure gives at first relatively broad view of the research on this subject and then transitions into a more narrow scope with sources that are closest to the focus of my study in order to maintain a balance between generality and specificity in terms of the sources (Van Wee & Banister 2016). I will then end this section by discussing knowledge gaps in the sources and in what ways my own study could fill those gaps. I will start with the theme of political expression on social media. Within this theme, there are texts that examine the political expression of certain demographics on social media, for example young adults or minorities (Storsul 2014; Velasquez et al. 2019; Fox & Warber 2015). There are also studies that examine more general trends of political action and expression and how social media has shaped those trends (Bennett 2012; Barnidge et al. 2018; Lane et al. 2019). There are certain limitations with these studies, namely that several base their analysis on interviews and panelists, examining political expression that is limited in terms of scope and demographics. Others examine only larger patterns and trends, without conducting specific case studies. This study mitigates the impact of both limitations, focusing on political expression within specific case studies while also examining the broader trends and dynamics of the political expression that can be discerned from the material by studying it in its original context. Moving on, I will now discuss the theme of progressive values and causes in branding. In this case, there is research on how people perceive the politics of a brand (Matos et al. 2017; Shetty et al. 2019; Palazzo & Basu 2007). There are also several studies that examine how public figures speaking out on political causes impacts the public perception of them and the brands they associate with (Park et

7 al. 2019; Morin et al. 2012; Cunningham & Regan 2012). These studies examine how people perceive brands when they take political stances, and they examine this for the most part by conducting surveys of individual study participants’ thoughts and feelings on the subjects. The limitation here is precisely in that surveys with chosen participants limit how participants can interpret an issue and presents it out of its original context. Although part of the aim for my study is to also assess how users on Twitter perceive Nike and the associated athletes as a result of the market- ing campaigns in question, I do so by examining a case study in its original context, which hopefully gives a more complete and nuanced picture of how users express themselves in response to the marketing campaigns. Lastly, I will discuss the theme focusing on progressive causes in branding and users’ political expression in response on social media. Several studies analyze brands’ usage of activism and progressive causes on social media in relation to an emergence of more socially aware and outspoken consumers on social media (Manfredi-Sánchez 2019; Van den Broek et al. 2017; Hoffman 2016). Research has also been conducted on how athletes and other public figures shape their own image and brand on social media by addressing political causes, and how that impacts responses on social media (Coombs & Cassilo 2017; Schmittel & Sanderson 2015; Duvall & Heckemeyer 2018). These studies are closely related to my research study because they examine the relation between political, progressive branding and users’ political expression on social media, though in different ways. For example, one partially focuses on the branding and political expression of an athlete on social media (Coombs & Cas- silo 2017) , I similarly examine how the “athlete-activists” involved in the Nike campaigns I am focusing on are perceived on Twitter as a result of the campaigns. Other studies within this theme examine the characteristics and reasons for brand activism on social media (Manfredi-Sánchez 2019), which is also a focus in my study where I look at the progressive issues Nike utilize in these marketing cam- paigns on Twitter and the characteristics and values that they convey. All these studies have aspects in common with the focus of my study as well as limitations that my study aims to avoid. In terms of knowledge gaps, I would say that the main gap is that none of them are focused on specific case studies located within social media platforms. Some studies (Coombs & Cassilo 2017; Park et al. 2019; Matos et al. 2017) only partially and/or briefly include social media in the analysis. Ones that examine political expression on social media (Storsul 2014; Bennett 2012) do so in a generalized way, out of its original context in a way that is not based on specific case studies but rather focused on general attitudes and behavioral trends. Therefore, the aim is that by focusing on a specific case (certain Nike campaigns on Twitter and the user response), this study can provide empiri- cally driven research that seems to be lacking in previous studies, namely an in- depth, in-context look at the social dynamics that occur on a social media platform

8 as a result of a brand communicating progressive values and causes in marketing campaigns to users on social media. Finally, I will briefly discuss a couple of these studies that are of relevance to the focus of my study in terms of the theoretical perspective. Manfredi-Sánchez identified several types of brand activism in his analysis, these were politics and regulatory issues, society, economy and environment. He also partially linked this shift in branding to a younger generation of consumers that are more socially and politically conscious, expecting brands to be equally as conscious and progressive (Manfredi-Sánchez 2019). In other words, brands started appealing more to the in- dividual (political/social) values and identities of consumers. This can be related to Bennett’s study concerning political expression on social media, where Bennett found that political action is organized and expressed on social media in more per- sonalized ways (Bennett 2012). All this to say that a central part of my study exam- ines the rise of individualized political expression on social media and how that possibly is connected to brands’ usage of progressive causes relating to individuals’ identities in social media marketing.

Method and Material

Source Material The focus for this study in terms of material are marketing campaigns on social media by Nike, including 2 Twitter-posts by Nike and 2 posts by the athletes that took part in these campaigns, namely one twitter-post each by Serena Williams and Colin Kaepernick promoting Nike (and themselves). This also includes the re- sponses to these posts by users on the platform. The reason for collecting this spe- cific material is that it provides a comprehensive view of the social dynamic that is generated in the interaction between marketing campaigns based on progressive values and the user response to those marketing campaigns in this specific case. And as was mentioned in the literature review, focusing on a specific case to study in this way provides a more in-depth and contextualized analysis of the dynamic on social media between politically/socially conscious branding and the political ex- pression of users in their responses. Next, I will provide some details concerning this source material. Firstly, Twit- ter is a social media platform that can be described as type of microblog as it allows users to upload text-posts that consist of a maximum of 280 characters. These posts can also include non-written elements, such as images and videos, that do not count towards the character limit. Each user has a feed where posts by other users’ ac- counts that they follow will appear, and there are three main ways in which specific Twitter-posts can be interacted with. Users can “re-tweet” a post (re-post it on their own account page) either by itself or adding their own comment to it, they can like

9 a post by tapping a heart icon located directly below it and they can reply to the post directly through a Twitter-post of their own. When it comes to the specific Twitter-posts that the focus of this study, these are 4 in total. Two of them are from Nike’s official Twitter-account, one reads “If you’re a girl from Compton, don’t just become a tennis player. Dream of being the greatest athlete ever.” (Nike 2018). This post refers to female tennis player Serena Williams and has circa 3000 retweets, 18000 likes and 288 replies (See appendix 1). The second tweet included that is by Nike reads “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything” (Nike 2018), in reference to male NFL (American football) player Colin Kaepernick, the post has roughly 15000 retweets, 34000 likes and 1000 replies (See Appendix 2). The other two post included in the material is by Williams and Kaepernick re- spectively, both correspond to the above-mentioned posts from the Nike account. The one from Williams’ official account states “Especially proud to be part of the Nike family today #justdoit”, the text is accompanied by an image of Williams playing tennis as a young child, with the words “It’s only a crazy dream until you do it” written across it as well as the Nike logo and their slogan, “Just do it”, present on the bottom of the image (Williams 2018). This post has about 52000 retweets, 289000 likes and 2600 replies (See appendix 3). The post by Kaepernick reads “Be- lieve in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt”, with a close- up image of his face, the same phrase from his tweet written across it and the Nike logo and slogan at the bottom (Kaepernick 2018). This post has roughly 342000 retweets, 883000 likes and 43000 replies (See appendix 4). Note that these numbers are approximations as Twitter does not provide exact information for posts on the feed that they appear in for users when the numbers exceed three digits. Thereby, these numbers are accurate as of the access dates pro- vided in the bibliography of this thesis, the numbers can change going forward. Note also that the two posts by Kaepernick, Williams and many of the replies to all four posts contain images, which means that this study will not only consist of an analysis of textual content, but visual content also. External context is also im- portant in order to fully understand the controversy that these posts generated (es- pecially the posts concerning Kaepernick), this will be explored when the material is analyzed in-depth later in this thesis. The source material was limited to these four posts as they each have thousands of replies, meaning that although the study focuses only on two cases, the size of the material is still large. This strikes a balance in that the selected source material is both limited and focused as well as rich and comprehensive. Other post by Nike and associated athletes were considered, however the posts concerning Kaepernick were chosen as those have the most user engagement on Twitter out of Nike cam- paigns of this kind. Posts relating to Williams were included as she is arguably the most well-known and successful female athlete in the world (Badenhausen 2019).

10 Both athletes are prominent figures in contemporary culture. This means that examining socially/politically progressive branding which they play a role in could provide some crucial insights into current (online) cultural patterns relating to brands, marketing and political action. It should also be reiterated that Twitter is platform that has wide reach with millions of users, and that it has provided a new context where unique linguistic, rhetorical and cultural expressions are produced in relation to various issues (Gallagher 2019; Wignall 2017). For these reasons, Twit- ter is a fruitful digital space for qualitative analysis that has the potential to contrib- ute new knowledge to the digital humanities field. There are also limitations to this source material. That only four Twitter-posts are included means that I cannot draw any wide-ranging, overarching conclusions on the values and social interactions that are generated through “woke-washed” online marketing campaigns. Additionally, focusing only on Twitter also means that this study does not encompass the full extent of the discussions that the mar- keting campaigns in question might have generated on other online social media platforms, news sites, blogs and so on. However, these limitations have been con- sidered during the process of conducting this study, and the aim of this study is not to provide a macro-perspective that gives a general overview of marketing and user response on social media, partially because several other studies that focus on wider trends already exist (some of which are discussed in the literature review section). The advantage with doing this type of qualitative case study instead is that by stay- ing “close” to the content of these posts in this sense rather than zooming out and analyzing general trends, a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the ideo- logical underpinnings in the material can potentially be revealed.

Ethical Considerations and Methodology I will also briefly address my own positioning as researcher in relation to this source material. I am personally a Twitter-user and have been for several years, meaning that I have a considerable amount of prior knowledge concerning Twitter even be- fore research on this study was started. There are potentially both advantages and drawbacks to this type of prior knowledge. The main drawback would perhaps be that certain details could be taken for granted, in other words the risk that I do not properly explain aspects of the material that readers unfamiliar with Twitter would not be aware of. The aim however is to always make it as simple to understand as possible within this thesis, and an advantage when having this prior knowledge could be exactly that, namely that it enables me as a researcher to explain and ana- lyze the intricacies of this Twitter-based source material in both a simple and nu- anced way. Concerning the data collection, replies to the four posts are collected, inter- preted and analyzed by focusing on the content of the posts, taking notes on the most prominent recurring patterns in terms of phrases, sentence structures and tone

11 (anger, joy, etc.). This data collection approach is most relevant to users’ responses to the posts by Nike and the associated athletes (though prominent patterns in the posts by Nike, Williams and Kaepernick are also analyzed), as this is the set of data that will require most effort in terms of collecting, filtering and classifying the ma- terial. This data collection process constitutes a type of grounded theory approach, wherein the initial collection process is coding, in other words categorizing and sorting the data by assigning descriptive labels (codes) to the data based on the content. These initial descriptive codes are then developed into analytical, theory- based themes that are used to structure the analysis section of this thesis. An integral aspect of this grounded theory approach and the development of these codes from a descriptive level to an analytical and theoretical level is that the theory is con- structed and applied based on the data itself (Charmaz 1983), a process which is further elaborated on in the theory section of this thesis. Starting then with the content-focused and descriptive data collection process, the process encompassed to start with all replies to each post, a sorting and filtering process then took place in order to identify prominent types of replies. The replies were at this stage assigned descriptive codes, which are described from this point forward as “reply types”. there are several, distinct types of replies to the posts by Nike, Kaepernick and Williams that are prominent. When it comes to the marketing post by Kaepernick, six reply types are identified as reoccurring on multiple in- stances. These reply were coded as (1) intention to boycott Nike products (2) Neg- atively comparing Kaepernick to military/police (3) Describing Kaepernick as a hero, role-model (4) Defending Kaepernick’s action as freedom of speech (5) Thanking Nike and Kaepernick, intention to buy product in support (6) Accusing Nike of hypocrisy over usage of sweatshops. Out of these types, 1 and 2 recurred most prominently by a clear margin, though types 3-6 recurred enough to also stand out in the material. Concerning the replies to Nike’s marketing post about Kaeper- nick, only 4 recurring reply types are identified, same as the reply types for Kaeper- nick’s post except for the types calling Kaepernick a hero and those defending his actions as freedom of speech. Regarding Williams’ post, five reply types are identified as recurring promi- nently. These were coded as (1) Describing Williams as inspirational, hero etc. (2) Expressing support for Nike, Williams, intention to buy product in support (3) In- tention to boycott Nike products (4) Accusing Nike of hypocrisy over sweatshops (5) Expressing personal affection (“I love you”) directly to Williams. Types 1 and 5 were most prominent in this case, with 2-4 recurring less but still multiple times. Finally, regarding Nike’s marketing post about Williams, only two prominently re- curring reply types are identified, mainly due to this post having much less replies in total compared to the other three posts. One type was again users accusing Nike of hypocrisy over sweatshops, the other was users accusing Williams of poor

12 sportsmanship and for this reason criticizing Nike for collaborating with her (See appendix 5 for complete list of reply types). As was stated earlier, this content-focused and descriptive data collection is based on the phrases and sentiments that most prominently reoccur in the responses to posts by Nike, Williams and Kaepernick. It is also through this content-focused process that these reply types are identified as most prominent in the material. In addition to identifying these reply types, several posts were also collected in order to function as examples for each reply type. However, in order to preserve the ano- nymity of the users, only the content of the posts is collected, without information on the users. I also do not quote any of the replies verbatim in this analysis in order to prevent the risk of users’ identities being exposed, they only function as reference points for the analysis, allowing me to keep a record of phrases and attitudes that reoccur the most. There are still ethical issues, however. This is a complex issue, especially when the source material is based in social media. Gaining access to the posts is not dif- ficult, however acquiring explicit permission from every single user that has re- sponded to the posts in question on Twitter would be a practically impossible task. However, the data collection method in this case identifies the most common pat- terns that occur in the collected source material in terms of the responses to the Twitter-posts by Nike, Williams and Kaepernick without focusing on specific posts and users. This way, individuals are not identifiable in the analysis, neither by username nor by content of specific posts. Simply put, this collection process re- flects the most prominent patterns in the replies rather than focusing on singular replies in detail, which preserves anonymity and streamlines the data collection (and analysis) process. Another ethical and methodological issue however is ephemerality, that the ma- terial might be lost if posts are deleted from Twitter for one reason or another. This risk of losing specific posts is mitigated by the approach to collecting and analyzing data in this case, which as stated is focused on larger patterns in the material rather than specific posts by users. Collecting posts as examples without user information also means that some will be preserved even if they are deleted, and this will still be ethical in the sense that all user information will be excluded, as well as due to avoiding direct quotation of the posts in the analysis. Another potential ethical (and legal) issue for this study is that there is a risk of copyright violation when digital, online content is the focus of a study (Association of Internet Researchers 2012, p.10), especially if it is branded content. A solution is to avoid visually displaying the content and branding, only describing it in words as much as possible to mitigate this potential problem. Finally, I will briefly add that it is important for me as a researcher to be aware of my own positioning in relation to the material in terms of past experiences, cul- tural background and opinions. Total objectivity is impossible, and therefore

13 numerous factors impact my interpretation of the source material. What is crucial, however, is to be aware of this as a researcher and ensure that it does not lead to misrepresenting or skewing the material in any way in the study, but rather that the material is represented in a nuanced and transparent way.

Theory In this section, I will discuss the qualitative process of applying a theoretical frame- work to this collected data and thereby shaping it into distinct (but connected) ana- lytical themes. First however, the term “progressive” and how it is defined for the purpose of this thesis will be briefly explained. I understand the term as referring to a worldview that is in favor of social reform that strengthens gender equality and minority rights. Therefore, when a marketing campaign by Nike is described as using “progressive values”, it means that the campaign is communicating senti- ments that are in support of issues like gender and racial equality. Concerning the analytical themes, two were identified in the four Twitter-posts by Nike, Williams and Kaepernick (see appendix 1-4), while three analytical themes were identified in users’ replies to those posts (see appendix 5). The reply types identified in the initial descriptive coding process were divided into three an- alytical themes based on the theoretical concepts that where most relevant to each type. The grounded theory approach is utilized in this phase of the process in order to construct analytical themes based on the data itself, which is why the subsequent analysis of this collected data makes use of several theoretical concepts. The frame- work is extrapolated from the content of the gathered data itself, thereby applying theoretical tools that were deemed most relevant and useful in analyzing the data and fulfilling the purpose of the study. This theoretical framework is therefore not uniform, it is made up of several analytical themes based on the collected data itself. Starting with the posts by Nike, Williams and Kaepernick, the first identified analytical theme is Identity politics in Marketing, specifically the usage of race and gender in the marketing campaigns. The usage of these identity aspects consti- tutes in this case a commodification of identities, in the sense that the race and gen- der of both Williams and Kaepernick is being used to promote Nike’s brand and products. The main theoretical tool that is used here is Rosalind Gill’s conception of postfeminist sensibility within contemporary media culture, which Gill argues consists of several interconnected themes. Among these themes is an increased em- phasis on individualism in terms of personal choices and empowerment, even issues like sexism and racism are framed in individual terms in media according to Gill, divorced from the mechanisms of any structural, political context. This individualistic, postfeminist rhetoric posits that women are no longer hin- dered by any structural discrimination and are free to make any personal choices that they want. Gill also names self-surveillance and self-discipline as staples of

14 this postfeminist sensibility, as well as the practice of improving oneself through “makeovers”, concludingly arguing that this postfeminist sensibility is intimately connected with neoliberal ideology (Gill 2007). This concept is used in this study to identify if and how gender and race are being used by Nike to convey neoliberal values of individualistic choice, self-discipline and self-improvement, and although Gill mainly focuses on women and femininity in her study, the framework she pre- sents is still useful in examining how Kaepernick’s black masculinity is used for the purposes of an individualized, neoliberal media culture. The second theme identified in the posts by Nike, Williams and Kaepernick is American Nostalgia. This specifically pertains to how American civil rights his- tory and the historical cultural concept of the “American dream” is deployed in the marketing campaigns. I understand the American dream as mainly the ideal that any American citizen, regardless of class or cultural background, can achieve suc- cess. In other words, the belief that any individual through hard work can achieve upward social and class mobility, though it should also be noted that there are other interpretations and usages of this concept as well. I also understand this ideal mainly as a form of nostalgia, as Ron Von Burg and Paul E. Johnson argue that nostalgia is a useful conduit for examining the contradictions of the American dream, due to nostalgia being a unitary narrative that masks cultural and political tensions within certain ideals such as the American dream (Von Burg & Johnson 2009). This theoretical perspective is utilized to analyze the tensions and contradic- tions that are produced by Nike using the American dream ideal in a contemporary marketing collaboration with Serena Williams, a successful African American woman with a working-class background. Gill’s postfeminist sensibility concept is also used in relation to this aspect of the marketing campaign to analyze the neolib- eral, “self-improvement” elements present within the American dream ideal and its usage in this case. I also examine how the history of the movement for black Americans’ civil rights, and the nostalgia that comes with it, is utilized in Nike’s marketing collabo- ration with Colin Kaepernick. Similar to how the usage of the American dream ideal in the Twitter-posts by Nike and Williams is examined, I examine how the US civil rights movement is (in)directly referenced in the Kaepernick and Nike collabora- tion. The nostalgia that potentially surrounds the US civil rights movement is used as a pathway into exposing certain tensions within the messaging and values ex- pressed in the marketing campaign. The postfeminist sensibility theory is also used in this case to examine how the historical memory of a collective struggle for social justice (the civil rights movement) is individualized and framed around a singular figure (Kaepernick), detached from any collective political action or structural dy- namics.

15 Continuing to the analytical themes found in the replies to the above-mentioned posts, the first identified analytical theme here is American Nationalism. This theme is focused on the reply types that unfavorably compare Kaepernick to Amer- ican soldiers, police officers and/or accuse him of disrespecting the American flag, the types that call him a hero and role-model and the reply types that defend his actions as freedom of speech. Symbols like the American flag, military soldiers and the free speech concept are central to the idea of the US as a nation. However, the debate that these reply types constitute amongst users replying to Kaepernick and Nike indicate that the meaning and use of these symbols can shift depending on context. This is why the floating signifier concept, originated by Claude Levi-Strauss and further developed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe is used to analyze these replies. A floating signifier could be understood as “a boundary object that … is plastic enough towards different meanings and interpretations” (Laskar et al. 2016). I understand the references to aspects like the American flag and soldiers in the replies to Nike and Kaepernick in similar way, as boundary objects that are flexible in that they can be imbued with different meanings depending on purpose and context. This floating signifier concept will therefore be used to detect the dif- ferent meanings and interpretations of symbols like the American flag in the replies. In combination with the floating signifier concept, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s racial grammar theory will be used in the analysis of these replies. He argues that racial grammar is a linguistic and cognitive distillation of racial ideology, shaping how and if people acknowledge race in various context as well as how people articulate certain issues as racial or non-race related (Bonilla-Silva 2012). This theoretical perspective is used to explore the racial grammar present in the replies directed towards Kaepernick, focusing on how aspects of racial ideology are articulated in them. The second analytical theme outlined based on the replies to these marketing posts is Femininity and Race. It focuses on all the reply types to the Twitter-post by Williams and Nike’s post referring to Williams, except the reply type which criticized Nike over sweatshops and the types expressing intention to boycott or support Nike. There is a racialized aspect to these replies, Bonilla-Silva’s racial grammar theory is used to detect and analyze the racial undertones in them. It is also vital to examine how the intersection of femininity and race shape the replies about and to Williams. Therefore, I combine the racial grammar theory with Susan Cahn’s conceptualization of the “mannish woman” stereotype that exists in refer- ence to female athletes. Cahn argues that sports generally connotes masculinity, which has contributed to the (derogatorily intended) view of female athletes as “mannish” or unfeminine. This stereotype also presented a contradictory context for African American women in sports, as their success simultaneously affirmed their capabilities while also being used to perpetuate the “mannish” stereotype

16 about female athletes and black women in general (Cahn 2015). Cahn’s theoretical articulation of the “mannish woman” stereotype in sports is applied to these replies so that the gendered dimension of the racial grammar within them is detected and analyzed. The final analytical theme identified within the replies is Boycott or “Buy- cott”. This theme focuses on the reply types to all four Twitter-posts by Nike, Wil- liams and Kaepernick that were identified as expressing the intention to either boy- cott or “buycott” Nike products in reaction to the marketing campaigns, as well as the reply type in which Nike were accused of hypocrisy over sweatshops. The term buycott refers to when consumers support a brand or company for ethical and/or political reasons by buying their products. Simply put, it is the antonym of what boycotting means in this context (Copeland 2014). Additionally, there has been a shift from materialism to postmaterialism in the last few decades in that people that were raised after World War II are more likely to care about ethical and political aspects in their consumption, compared to earlier generations who grew up during the Great Depression and were mainly concerned with functionality (Copeland 2014). This postmaterialist theorization regarding consumer attitudes is applied to the boycott/buycott replies to Nike, including replies accusing Nike of using sweat- shops, in order to study the values and sentiments expressed in them.

Disposition of Analysis

The following analysis will consist of two chapters. The first chapter focuses on the four posts by Nike, Williams and Kaepernick respectively, encompassing the ana- lytical themes Identity Politics in Marketing and American Nostalgia. The sec- ond chapter is centered around the replies to these four Twitter-posts, specifically the prominent reply types identified in them. This chapter includes the analytical themes American Nationalism, Femininity and Race, as well as Boycott or Buy- cott. These two chapters are followed by a concluding discussion that discusses and contrasts the analytical themes in relation to each other, relating them back to the research questions of the thesis and ending with the final conclusions that can be drawn from the analysis. As grounded theory is a complex approach in that several theoretical perspectives will be used in different ways, I have provided a table in Appendix 6 to help readers orientate themselves while reading the analysis.

17 1. Identity, History and Nostalgia – Just “Woke- Wash” it

Identity Politics in Marketing

In this analytical theme, the focus is on how the identities of Serena Williams and Colin Kaepernick are used and commodified for the purposes of the marketing Twitter-posts by Nike, Williams and Kaepernick. Rosalind Gill’s conceptualization of the postfeminist sensibility is applied in order to analyze how neoliberal values such as self-discipline, individual choice and self-improvement are conveyed by the commodification of the athletes’ identities in the marketing posts. To begin with, the two Twitter-posts that make up the collaboration between Nike and Kaepernick, one by Nike and one by Kaepernick, are examined. Both the post by Kaepernick and by Nike contain the phrase “Believe in Some- thing. Even if it means sacrificing everything”. Kaepernick’s post also contains a black and white image of his face, with the same phrase written across it and the Nike logo and their slogan, “Just Do It” written on the bottom of the image (See appendix 4). Some background context is needed to fully understand these posts (and the replies to them which will be examined in the second chapter of this anal- ysis), as they are related to an action that Kaepernick took. On September 1st, 2016, when Kaepernick was playing for an American foot- ball team, the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, he kneeled on one knee while the American national anthem was played before the start of the game. He and a team- mate who did the same, both African Americans, later explained that it was done as a peaceful protest against racial inequality and police brutality against people of color (Reid 2017). This act of protest subsequently caused major controversy in the US, with President Donald Trump stating that players who do not stand for the national anthem should be fired from their NFL teams (Stelter 2017). And although the protest was not the official reason for it, Kaepernick was later released from his team and has not been an NFL player since 2017. It is with this as a backdrop that Nike and Kaepernick choose to collaborate with each other on a marketing cam- paign. A vital aspect here is that an individualized narrative had already taken hold even before Nike framed the marketing campaign and these Twitter-posts around Kaepernick as an individual. This can be understood in relation to the increased cultural prominence of a neoliberal ideology in which structural and institutional problems in society are reframed as a matter of individual choice and self-improve- ment (Gill 2007). The contrast between Kaepernick’s motivation for the protest and how it was framed in media coverage and subsequently understood by the public is a fitting example of how structural issues are individualized in modern society.

18 Kaepernick’s main goal was to protest structural inequalities and discrimination by kneeling, but the following controversy centered largely around Kaepernick as an individual rather than the structural problems that he was attempting to bring atten- tion to through his protest (Guerrero 2020). That teammates and other athletes car- ried out similar protests yet did not get the same level of exposure as Kaepernick further emphasizes the extent to which progressive causes like this one is framed around an individual’s actions and choices. This marketing collaboration on Twitter between Nike and Kaepernick can then be considered as both a perpetuation of this individualized media narrative around Kaepernick and an evolvement of it. It perpetuates it by keeping the focus on Kaepernick and not on the structural issues that he protested against, and it evolves it by commodifying Kaepernick’s cause and his identity as an African American man not only to sell Nike products (financially benefitting both Nike and Kaeper- nick) but also to “woke-wash” Nike’s brand image by associating with a socially progressive and outspoken athlete. A specific aspect of how Kaepernick’s identity was commodified in this marketing campaign lies in the slogan that was used for it, “Believe in Something. Even if it means sacrificing everything”. On Twitter, this slogan was initially posted by Kaepernick himself, accompa- nied with a hashtag of the Nike slogan “Just Do It” as well as the promotional image of himself (see appendix 4). Nike then also posted the slogan for the marketing campaign, without mentioning Kaepernick or any additional context (see appendix 2). In his Twitter-post, Kaepernick writes this phrase followed by the “Just Do It” Nike slogan as a hashtag, almost forming an extended sentence that combines the two phrases. Implicitly, the messaging of these two phrases combined in this post simultaneously becomes a reference to Kaepernick’s and other African Americans’ struggle against racism as well as an encouragement for people to purchase Nike products. This combination of these two phrases and the way they are deployed in the campaign can again be tied back to Gill’s postfeminist sensibility concept and the element of individual choice within it. combining the phrases constitutes a way for Nike and Kaepernick to position the act of progressive, anti-racist activism as achievable through individual consumer choice by linking them together in the post not only textually but also visually through the image of Kaepernick and the two slogans/phrases again being written on it. In other words, Kaepernick’s identity as an African American man protesting racial inequality is commodified through this phrasing and in the campaign as a whole as it constructs a pathway for people to make an individual consumer choice mainly based on their perception of Kaeper- nick as a person. Either you approve of and support Kaepernick’s actions and his character by buying Nike products, or you disapprove by rejecting them. Identity politics becomes identity marketing here, as the main selling point in this campaign is not the products themselves, but the identity and actions of the athlete.

19 Kaepernick, and his identity, becomes a proxy for the products that Nike pro- duces and sells. The direct, brief format of Twitter allows this to be done in way that makes it come across as personal, informal and without any hidden intentions. This is especially evident when considering the differences between the posts by Nike and Kaepernick concerning the same marketing campaign. While the post by Kaepernick explicitly ties himself and his protest to the Nike brand through a hashtag and the attached image, Nike’s tweet is much more informal in the sense that it only contains the “Believe in something…” phrase without any additional context. In Kaepernick’s case, there is a blurring between personal expression and marketing, where the post, coming from his own personal Twitter account, clearly ties Nike to his own identity and beliefs. This reveals a dynamic where Kaepernick personally “leads the way” in reveal- ing the campaign by associating himself with Nike in his Twitter-post, while Nike seemingly has more personal and casual approach in their subsequent Twitter-post instead to deemphasize the fact that the post is coming from an official brand ac- count. This again comes back to the neoliberal individualization and commodifica- tion of a progressive collective cause, with a brand utilizing a casual form of com- munication on social media in order to appear more personable, while Kaepernick individualizes the campaign message and the brand by promoting it on his personal Twitter account with his own likeness tied to it. An argument Gill makes regarding the postfeminist sensibility concept is that there is a “self-help discourse” where it is “women, not men, who are addressed and required to work on and transform the self. Significantly, it appears that the ideal disciplinary subject of neoliberalism is feminine” (Gill 2007, p.156). Though that may be true in general, this marketing collaboration between Nike and Kaepernick shows that the identities of other societal groups, such as African American men and people of color in general can be both utilized for and targeted by self-help and self-discipline messaging. Nike sells physical activity and athleticism as a form of self-improvement, and by tying Kaepernick and his anti-racist protest to their brand, they are also selling opposition towards racial inequality as a form of moral self- improvement. In that sense, an ideal disciplinary subject of neoliberalism does not have to be exclusively feminine, femininity can intersect with race and it can also include men and other people of color by framing support of anti-racism as a matter of individual consumer choice. Next, I examine the Twitter marketing collaboration between Serena Williams and Nike in terms of the commodification of Williams’ identity. It consisted of two Twitter posts, one by Williams stating “Especially proud to be part of the Nike family today #justdoit”, and a black and white image of Williams as a child attached with the phrase “It’s only a crazy dream until you do it” written across it (see ap- pendix 3) and the Nike logo and slogan on the bottom of the image. The other post in this Twitter-campaign, by Nike, states “If you’re a girl from Compton, don’t just

20 become a tennis player. Dream of being the greatest athlete ever” (see appendix 1). As Nike’s post insinuates, Serena Williams is a female tennis player, and one of the most successful (male or female) in terms of titles won and prize money earned. Gill’s postfeminist sensibility concept is also used here in order to examine how Williams identity as an African American woman is commodified. What is immediately clear by these posts is that the phrasing is different be- tween the posts by Nike and Williams, whereas they were identical in the two posts by Kaepernick and Nike. The sentiments are however similar in both the post by Nike and by Williams, you must “dare” to dream of greatness in order to achieve it. Concerning the post by Williams, the text written across the image of her as a child express a sentiment focused on Williams as an individual, that she was able to achieve the “crazy dream” of becoming a successful tennis player by just “doing it”. This constitutes a type of grammar of individualism, phrasing that constructs a narrative entirely on personal terms which excludes all external, structural factors that potentially contributed to Williams’ success (Gill 2007). This narrative is also constructed by incorporating Williams’ identity as black woman into the marketing campaign. This is done in several ways here, one of which is by Nike referring to Williams as a “girl from Compton” in their Twitter- post. Her gender is referred to explicitly, while the mention of Compton, a city in California in which 70% of the population were black people around the time Wil- liams grew up there in the 80s (Fuetsch 1990) implicitly also makes use of her race as part of the marketing. A major athletic apparel brand using the identity of a fe- male, African American athlete in this way in order to construct a self-improvement narrative for marketing purposes reinforces the notion of an individualized, neolib- eral postfeminist sensibility where race and gender are framed as elements of a per- sonalized narrative, detached from any impact by structural racism, sexism or mi- sogynoir (Gill 2007). Another way in which Williams’ identity is utilized in this marketing campaign is through the usage of the photo of her playing tennis as a child (See appendix 3). It depicts Williams as young child swinging a tennis racket on what appears to be a tennis court while wearing a top and skirt with matching patterns on them. Using a picture of Williams as a child dressed in a feminine outfit, in combination with Nike explicitly referring to her gender in their post has the effect of reproducing a nor- mative, binary sexual difference within this marketing campaign. This cultural reassertion of sexual difference is also an element of the modern postfeminist sensibility. In Gill’s own words, a key feature of the sensibility has been the “resurgence of ideas of natural sexual difference across all media from newspapers to advertising, talk shows and popular fiction” (Gill 2007, p.158). In the case of this Twitter marketing collaboration between Williams and Nike, the posts do not necessarily reinforce natural sexual difference directly, they do so ra- ther indirectly through certain aesthetic and discursive aspects present in the content

21 of their posts. One of these aspects is the attached image of Williams as a child, as her appearance and feminine outfit in it emphasizes to the consumer that Williams is not simply an athlete, but that she is specifically a female athlete, one who looked and dressed just like all the other girls that have a “crazy dream” they want to achieve. Another aspect that reinforces sexual and gender difference is the use of the phrase “a girl from Compton”, compare this to the Kaepernick marketing campaign where his gender is never explicitly referred to. Though simply referring to a per- son’s gender identity does not necessarily reinforce sexual difference norms by it- self, it becomes clear in combination with the image of Williams as a child and in comparison with Kaepernick’s Nike collaboration that putting an emphasis on Wil- liams’ gender identity and femininity, and thus differentiating her from male ath- letes and masculinity, was an intentional aspect of the campaign. Making gender, race, or other identity aspects a central part of a marketing campaign risks essen- tializing certain notions regarding those identities, even if the aim is to convey a progressive brand image. Before moving on to the second analytical theme in this chapter, I will conclude this first section with a final observation. Both this marketing campaign and the one with Kaepernick seem to suggest that a global brand like Nike, in line with the neoliberal, postfeminist sensibility of modern society that Gill posits, does not “woke-wash” their public image by highlighting structural inequalities. They in- stead do so by commodifying the identities of high-profile individuals, such as black women and men like Williams and Kaepernick. The emergence of socially progressive brands seems then, at least in this case, to center more around commod- ifying identities and selling individualized narratives of progressive causes to con- sumers rather than putting systemic societal problems at the forefront of their mes- saging.

American Nostalgia In this analytical theme, the usage of the history of the American civil rights move- ment for black Americans in the marketing collaboration between Nike and Kaeper- nick is analyzed. The usage of the American Dream concept in the marketing col- laboration between Williams and Nike is examined as well. The analysis is partially carried out by applying nostalgia as a critical, theoretical perspective to this aspect of the source material, thereby conceptualizing the usage of civil rights history and the American Dream ideal in these marketing campaigns as expressions of nostal- gia. The postfeminist sensibility concept is also used in this analytical theme to examine the neoliberal, individualistic elements of these nostalgic expressions.

22 Starting with the posts by Nike and Kaepernick and their marketing campaign, I will first briefly discuss the usage of nostalgia as a theoretical lens in this analytical theme. Using nostalgia as a theoretical term can be fruitful for analysis of the ten- sions within how certain ideals and historical events, in this case American ones, are perceived. This is due to the function of nostalgic sentiments as “unifying nar- ratives that mask various tensions and hierarchies” (Von Burg & Johnson 2009, p.353) and therefore, nostalgia “offers a useful critical category for appreciating the rhetorical construction of myths and histories.” (Von Burg & Johnson 2009, p.354). In other words, by deploying nostalgia as a critical, theoretical lens, the rhetorical and discursive constructs that are built around historical ideals and events can be deconstructed and understood by the same concept they were constructed with. In the case of the Kaepernick and Nike marketing posts, a rhetorical, nostalgic construct is built based on the history of the movement for black Americans’ civil rights. However, this is not done by directly referring to the civil rights movement, it is instead done in a more implicit way. The phrase used in the campaign, “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything” is a reference to Kaeper- nick’s kneeling protest against racial inequality in the US, an action that prompted comparisons to historical civil rights protests in American media coverage (Balles- teros 2017; Robinson 2018). A media narrative was in this sense partially built up in which Kaepernick’s actions were put into a kind of pantheon of historical civil rights protest in the US. With this media narrative already existing, Nike then makes terms like belief and sacrifice a central aspect of a marketing campaign with Kaepernick, effectively ech- oing the notion of Kaepernick as an important, selfless civil rights figure on the level of previous historically important black activists in the US. The generality and relative vagueness of the phrasing in the campaign however (believe in “some- thing”, sacrificing “everything”) sanitizes and detaches the reference to civil rights history from its actual political context. The unspecific formulation of this phrase in the marketing campaign produces a construct of nostalgia that masks the political specificity of both civil rights protests and the institutionalized discrimination that they protested against, exchanging it for the more general terms of belief and sacri- fice. And by producing this nostalgic construct in the marketing campaign, Nike portrays Kaepernick as a romanticized, heroic figure detached from any complex political struggle, a heroic figure that also (perhaps most importantly from Nike’s perspective) publicly represents and promotes their brand. By using the civil rights movement to portray Kaepernick as an idealized heroic figure in this way, the nostalgic construct also takes on an individualized form. An issue such as the civil rights movement, largely a collective struggle against a struc- tural problem, is reframed along more personal terms in this campaign by putting the spotlight solely on Kaepernick while simultaneously echoing the media narra- tive that drew parallels between him and other historical civil rights protests.

23 Framing a progressive cause in this personalized way is another product of a post- feminist, neoliberal sensibility. And as a product of this societal sensibility that is permeated with individualism, the framing and usage of the American civil rights history in this marketing campaign generates an inversion of “the personal is polit- ical” slogan that originated from the second-wave feminist movement. Or as Gill expresses it, this kind of personal framing “turns the idea of the personal-as-political on its head” (Gill 2007, p.153). The Twitter-posts by Williams and Nike for their marketing collaboration are examined next within this analytical theme. Applying nostalgia as a theoretical lens, the usage of the American Dream ideal as a nostalgic construct in this campaign is analyzed. First, it should be restated that in the context of this study, the American Dream is defined as an ideal in the US that any individual in the country can achieve success if they work hard enough for it. In this sense, the American Dream ideal connotes the belief that anyone can achieve upward class mobility. The way that the American Dream then is used as a nostalgic construct here is similar to how civil rights history was used in the Kaepernick campaign, namely as a uniform nar- rative that masks underlying tensions in the subject matter and the American Dream ideal itself (Von Burg & Johnson 2009). The American Dream ideal is deployed in this marketing campaign mainly by making William’s personal background an in- tegral part of the marketing posts on Twitter by Nike and Williams herself. There are two specific elements of Williams’ background history that is used as a part of the nostalgic American Dream construct in the campaign. One is that Williams and her family come from a working-class background (Andersson 2015). The other element is that she was raised in the city of Compton in California, which has historically had a reputation of suffering from high rates of gang-related violence (Busbee 2015). These elements are invoked in the marketing campaign by Nike explicitly referring to Williams as a girl from Compton in their Twitter-post, and by the image of Williams as a child playing tennis in a fenced-in court in her post, thereby evoking the memory of her working-class upbringing. The combination of these elements, emphasizing that Williams is from Compton together with the image of her as a child implicitly expresses the sentiment that a working-class girl who grew up in a “rough” city still managed to achieve success and wealth despite these circumstances. It is precisely this sentiment that constitutes the nostalgic, romanticized construct of the American Dream ideal that is used in this campaign. The narrative of a working-class African American woman that then managed to achieve the American Dream (success, wealth and upward class mobil- ity) is used to promote the brands of both Nike and Williams as well as Nike prod- ucts. Another significant reason for the American Dream ideal being a nostalgic and romanticized construct, at least in this marketing campaign, is the way the campaign individualizes Williams’s history and detaches it from its historical, societal

24 complexity. A central aspect of the American Dream concept is that it represents a “pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps”-mentality (Rooks 2012), in other words the ability to achieve success solely through your own work and ability as an individual. This aspect means that the American Dream as an ideal is compatible with the individualistic elements that Gill describes as part of the modern postfem- inist sensibility (Gill 2007). Similar to how the postfeminist sensibility entails an individualization of how structural discrimination like sexism is perceived, the American Dream individualizes structural economic inequality, thereby obscuring notions of class conflict and stratification in society. In the case of this campaign, the narrative is that Williams, “a girl from Comp- ton”, achieved upward class mobility and substantial wealth due to her own aspira- tions and hard work. Both the posts by Nike and Williams literally use the word “dream” as well in reference to Williams’ achievements, this combined with Wil- liams’ personal history makes the American Dream narrative relatively clear in this marketing campaign. But framing Williams’ achievements as a “bootstrap story” in this way erases both the structural support systems and discriminations that Wil- liams likely experienced in her life. Instead, it communicates a sanitized, nostalgic construct for consumers that enables Nike and Williams to portray themselves and Nike products as symbols of self-improvement, self-discipline and hard-earned prosperity.

25 2. The Response – American Values and the Brand Image of Nike, Kaepernick and Williams

American Nationalism

This analytical theme focuses on replies to the Twitter-posts by Kaepernick and Nike for their marketing collaboration. Specifically, the focus here is on reply types 2 (negatively comparing Kaepernick to military/police), 3 (describing Kaepernick as hero/role-model) and 4 (defending Kaepernick’s actions as free speech), all types of replies that were found in response to Kaepernick’s post (see appendix 4). The reply type where Kaepernick is negatively compared to the American military and police was also found in the replies to Nike’s post concerning Kaepernick (see ap- pendix 2), those replies are also examined in this theme. The reason for grouping these reply types together within this theme is that they all relate to the perception of the US as a nation and how “American values” as a concept is imbued with differing meanings by references to aspects like the flag, military, constitutional rights to free speech and so on. The floating signifier concept is applied in order to analyze the usage of various symbols and values that constitute a type of American nationalism in these reply types. Bonilla-Silva’s racial grammar theory is also used to detect the possible racial undertones in these replies. To begin with, both the post by Kaepernick and the post by Nike have replies in response that negatively compare Kaepernick to American police and military. The vast majority of the replies in this reply type dismiss the notion of sacrifice in relation to Kaepernick that is expressed in both marketing posts (see appendixes 2 and 4), claiming that it is insulting to soldiers and police officers, who make “real” sacrifices, to claim that what Kaepernick did was a sacrifice. Many of these replies also posted an image of Pat Tillman, a former NFL-player who enlisted in the US Army and later died while serving in Afghanistan. The point made here is that Till- man is an example of an NFL-player that made a “real” sacrifice, supposedly unlike Kaepernick and his protest. These posts also frequently express that Nike and Kaepernick are “disrespecting” the US flag and military/police through this mar- keting campaign. In terms of floating signifiers, the main ones in all three reply types mentioned in this analytical theme appear to be the flag and/or military/police. Both function as symbols in the replies that are open and flexible enough to be imbued with var- ying meanings, values, and interpretations (Laskar et al. 2016). They are specifi- cally used in various ways in order to define the meaning of American values and what it means to be (un)American in relation to Kaepernick and the marketing cam- paign. In the case of these replies that negatively compare Kaepernick to

26 military/police, there seems to be one main element that is assigned to the military and police as well as the flag as signifiers. This element is heroism, namely that heroism and thereby “real” sacrifice en- tails fighting, and dying in, a war or other violent conflicts in service of the US government. Within the context of this reply type then, the floating signifier that is the military/police is interpreted as a symbol of idealized heroism, one that can be used to dismiss other claims of heroism (Kaepernick and the marketing campaign in this case) as disrespectful or unworthy in comparison. The American flag as a floating signifier is then used and interpreted here in relation to this conceptualiza- tion of the military and police, meaning that the flag itself becomes a symbol of the same idealized heroism and bravery that the military and the police represent. By assigning these meanings to these two floating signifiers, it allows the users in ques- tion to accuse Kaepernick (who protested against racial inequality during the na- tional anthem and the raising of the American flag) and Nike of disrespect towards the American flag and the military/police. Certain racial undertones are also present in these replies that negatively com- pare Kaepernick to the military/police and the flag by interpreting them as symbols of idealized heroism. There is in other words a form of racial grammar that can be found in these replies, linguistic articulations of the racial, ideological underpin- nings that structure the way people use and understand language in social contexts (Bonilla-Silva 2012). The racial grammar can mainly be detected here in how the flag and the military/police are used as symbols of idealized heroism for the purpose of dismissing Kaepernick’s protest and his marketing collaboration with Nike. More specifically, it is visible in the contrast that is made in these replies, that the military/police and the flag are positioned as symbols of “real” sacrifice and Amer- ican heroism, which means that Kaepernick’s protest and the marketing campaign is positioned in contrast as a false sacrifice as well as an inauthentic, “unamerican” transgression. The implication that is thereby generated through this contrasting process is that protests against racial inequality are disrespectful to and the opposite of Amer- ican values and heroism. Expressions like “this is what real sacrifice looks like” (referencing the military/police) in these replies then constitute a form of racial grammar, as it implies that sacrifice does not encompass the struggle against racism, linguistically excluding black americans’ struggles from sacrifice as concept com- pletely. Expressions in the style of “disrespecting the flag/military” also constitute a type of racial grammar, as it again excludes the experiences of black Americans by putting Kaepernick’s protest in opposition to the meanings that are ascribed to the flag and the military/police as symbols of American nationalism. By doing so, these kinds of expressions also reproduce the notion of whiteness as normative in terms of how American values and heroism is understood. This is especially notice- able in how Kaepernick, an African American NFL-player that protested racial

27 inequality, is unfavorably compared to Pat Tillman, a white NFL-player that died as a soldier. By both textually and visually comparing Kaepernick to Tillman in this way, the idealized American heroism that these replies imbue the military/police and the flag signifiers with seem to also take on the appearance of a white man, in opposition to Kaepernick as a an African American man. However, as was stated in the opening paragraph of this section, there are also two other reply types in this analytical theme that perceive Kaepernick and this marketing campaign in a more positive way. The second one is a reply type found in the responses to Kaepernick’s post, namely users describing Kaepernick as a hero or role-model for his protest. The most frequently occurring expressions in this re- ply type are variations of calling Kaepernick a hero, saying that he is a good role- model for their kids, and so on. The third reply type that was also prominent in the responses to Kaepernick’s post were replies defending Kaepernick and his protest as a type of action that is protected under the US constitution, specifically describ- ing it as Kaepernick exercising his freedom of speech and the right to protest. There is mainly one recurring expression within this reply type. Those are var- iations of posts arguing that Kaepernick as well as the Nike marketing campaign are not disrespecting the military/police, because they served in order to allow Americans to exercise their freedom like Kaepernick did. A prominent aspect of certain replies in this style also accuse those who criticize Kaepernick in the replies of hypocrisy over not respecting Kaepernick’s freedom of expression. Another sim- ilar sentiment that is expressed in several posts in this reply type is soldiers and army veterans stating that they served so Kaepernick and others could exercise their right to free speech, thereby showing support to Kaepernick by rejecting the criti- cism that his protest was disrespectful to the military/police or the flag. As the military/police was a main floating signifier for the posts in the first reply type discussed in this theme, it is the main floating signifier for these two reply types as well. Though the American flag is not used as a signifier as frequently in these posts that defended and supported Kaepernick, there are however multiple references to “freedom of speech” and the concept of freedom in general, as well as several mentions of rights and specifically the right to protest. Therefore, the main floating signifiers used in the reply type where Kaepernick is described as a hero and in the reply type where Kaepernick’s protest is defended as freedom of speech appear to be the military/police and the concept of citizens’ freedoms and rights. In contrast to the meaning that the military/police is imbued with as a floating signifier in the posts that are negative towards Kaepernick, the posts in the two other reply types in this theme do not use military/police as a symbol of idealized hero- ism. In particular, they do not use it as a symbolic cudgel with which other acts (such as protesting racial inequality) are made to look inauthentic or unworthy in comparison. Instead, these posts refer to military/police as symbols that represent

28 (and enable) democracy and freedom for all Americans. In other words, instead of signifying a kind of idealized heroism, military/police are instead conceptualized as a symbol for a free and democratic liberal society in the posts defending Kaeper- nick, rather than as glorified heroes in themselves. This shows that the military/po- lice, as a floating signifier, can be (re)interpreted in different ways in order to be used for differing purposes and contexts (Laskar et al. 2016), in this case for either defending or attacking Kaepernick’s actions and the marketing campaign. In terms of freedom and rights as concepts, they can function as floating signi- fiers in that they are flexible enough to be assigned different meanings and be in- terpreted in different ways depending on purpose and context. In the posts that de- fend Kaepernick and the marketing campaign as using freedom of speech and the right to protest, freedom and rights as signifiers are interpreted individualistically, they are used to argue in favor of Kaepernick’s rights and freedom of speech as an individual. This is also visible in how military/police is used as signifiers in the replies defending Kaepernick, with phrases in the style of “soldiers fought so Kaepernick could protest” being used, utilizing military/police as a symbol that connotes freedom on the level of individual acts and expressions. However, racial grammar also underpins these replies defending Kaepernick and the campaign, despite the positive sentiments expressed about and towards Kaepernick. By positioning police/military as symbols of freedom and democracy as these posts do, the implication then is that rights and freedoms in the US are protected through the actions that police officers and soldiers take in their occupa- tions. Considering the extensive history of police brutality against people of color in the US (www.mappingpoliceviolence.org) as well as the US military’s history of invading middle eastern countries among other places (Sakellaropoulos et al. 2008), using military/police and their actions as symbols for freedom and democracy then takes on a racial and imperialistic undertone. There is therefore a subtext in using military/police as symbols for freedom and rights in the US as these posts defending and supporting Kaepernick do. Namely, that these rights and freedoms are built on a foundation of state-sanctioned violence against people of color and/or people in non-western countries. What is clear then is that the racial grammar present in the replies that were negative towards Kaeper- nick and the campaign was more overt in that those posts directly dismissed his protests against racial inequality, but that racial grammar also structured the replies defending and supporting Kaepernick and the marketing campaign, albeit on a more connotational level. Ultimately, these opposing views on Kaepernick and the Nike campaign are all based on different interpretations of what “American values” as well as symbols like the flag, freedom and the US military mean and represent in terms of the cultural image of the US as a nation.

29 Femininity and Race This analytical theme focuses on replies to posts by Serena Williams and Nike (See appendix 1 and 3) regarding their marketing collaboration. The focus is specifically on reply types 1 (describing Williams as a hero/role-model) and 5 (Expressing per- sonal affection for Williams) that were found in the replies to Williams’ post, and reply type 2 (accusing Nike of endorsing an athlete that has poor sportsmanship) that was identified in the replies to Nikes’ post about Williams. These reply types where grouped into this theme as they all contain replies that in are in different ways shaped by how Williams is perceived as a female, African American athlete. In other words, this theme examines conceptualizations of femininity and race as well as how they intersect within these reply types. Bonilla-Silva’s racial grammar the- ory is used to analyze the racial undertones in the replies, in combination with Susan Cahn’s writing about female athletes, including her theorization of the “mannish woman” stereotype regarding female athletes in order to examine gendered aspects that are found in the racial grammar of the replies. I will start with the two reply types that contain positive replies in response to the post by Williams, namely the replies that describe Williams as a role-model and the replies that express personal, emotional affection for Williams. In terms of the replies that describe Williams as a role-model, the most prominent expressions within that reply type were along the lines of saying that Williams inspires everyone to do better, with some also expressing that Williams proves that anyone can achieve success in the US as long as they are dedicated and work hard at it. This indicates that many of these replies describing her as a hero or role-model do so because they perceive Williams as having achieved her success solely through her own hard work. Regarding the replies that express personal affection for Williams, the most prominent sentiments expressed were in the style of users replying that they “love” her or are “proud” of her for everything that she as achieved. This is in contrast to the reply types found in the posts concerning the Kaepernick marketing campaign, as none of those that replied positively regarding Kaepernick expressed the same type of personal affection for him as some of those that replied positively regarding Williams did. Although these reply types both contained replies expressing positive senti- ments about Williams, there are still certain racial and gendered elements in what they express, and in how they express it. In the replies calling Williams a role- model, many seemingly emphasize her own hard work as an individual as the main reason for her success. This could perhaps indicate that what was identified in the Williams and Nike marketing posts themselves, namely the usage of the American Dream ideal, has actually reached out to the users and caused them to echo that sentiment concerning Williams in their own posts. And is in the case of the market- ing posts, the replies that express this sentiment construct a perception of Williams

30 that detaches her success and experiences from any structural power dynamics re- lating to class, gender, and race. The narrative is then built around the “hard work” that Williams did as an indi- vidual, and racial grammar plays a part in this narrative as well. As Bonilla-Silva argues, a central part of racial grammar is the normativity of whiteness in culture, for example in the sense that “black movies” are talked about but not “white mov- ies”, despite movies with white lead characters being the vast majority (Bonilla- Silva 2012). In this case, this normativity is expressed in how these replies empha- size individual hard work as the reason for Williams’ success, which obscures not only the structural barriers that racial minorities face, but also the structural privi- leges that whiteness entails. This kind of “color-blind” narrative reinforces then the structural hegemony and normativity of whiteness by not acknowledging the struc- tural obstacles that people of color like Williams possibly faced throughout their lives, instead putting focus on how “anyone” can achieve anything they want if they just work hard enough for it. Moving on to the replies expressing personal affection for Williams, certain gendered dynamics play a central role in these posts. Cahn writes that since sports has been culturally associated with masculinity for the most part, many female ath- letes have therefore attempted to compensate for this through the way that they dress and their personal interests, among other things (Cahn 2015). This element is present in the marketing post by Williams as was discussed in the previous analyt- ical chapter, with the post featuring an image of Williams as a young child wearing a dress while playing tennis (see appendix 3), emphasizing Williams’ femininity. Considering the “softness” and emotionality that femininity connotates cultur- ally, highlighting the femininity of Williams in this marketing campaign potentially generated these replies that express personal and emotional affection towards Wil- liams. It made it in a sense easier for users to express “love” for her in their replies as the marketing post by Williams itself has a personal tone (describing Nike as a “family” in her post) and an emphasis on her femininity through the image of her attached in the post. These replies of personal affection constitute therefore a type of reaction to the tension between the feminine and masculine connotations that are present in how Williams is portrayed as a female athlete in this Nike marketing campaign. Lastly in this analytical theme, the reply type with replies accusing Nike of endorsing an athlete (Williams) with poor sportsmanship is examined. These replies were in response to Nike’s post about Williams (see appendix 1), and the reason for these accusations of poor sportsmanship is a tennis match that Williams played and lost, the final of the 2018 US Open tournament, in which she had an outburst and frequently argued with the chair umpire (Jurejko 2018). The most common expres- sions within this reply type were along the lines of calling Williams classless,

31 spoiled and a sore loser, as well as posts calling for Nike to reconsider endorsing Williams due to poor sportsmanship during this match. There are a couple of ways in which gender and race intersect in terms of the attitudes expressed towards Williams within this reply type. It could be linked to the historical perception of female athletes as prone to emotional instability due to intense competition, as well as to the “mannish women” stereotype that female ath- letes are labeled with, which in turn further reinforces the societal stereotype of black women being less feminine than white women (Cahn 2015). It then becomes clear that these replies that accuse Williams of having a “tantrum” and of being classless are rooted in a sexist, double-standard narrative of Williams acting “hys- terical” during her match, with former tennis player Billie Jean King among others commenting regarding Williams that “When a woman is emotional, she’s ‘hysteri- cal’ and she’s penalized for it. When a man does the same, he’s ‘outspoken’” (King 2018). Therefore, the replies that accuse Williams of being classless and demand Nike cut ties with her are the product of stereotypes that associate female athletes and women in general with hysteria and emotional instability. However, there is also an element of racial grammar that intersects with the gendered stereotypes present in these replies, a racial grammar that privileges white femininity above the femininity of women of color (Bonilla-Silva 2012). In addition to the stereotype of emotionally unstable female athletes, the stereotype of female athletes (especially black female athletes) being “mannish” and overly aggressive also comes into play. A similar and relevant stereotype in this case as well is the “angry black women”, perceiving black women as threatening or aggressive (Wal- ley-Jean 2009). Regarding Williams and the negative replies to her post, the “man- nish woman” stereotype attached to female athletes further reinforces the “angry black women” stereotype that surrounds Williams and other black women. These negative replies regarding Williams’ sportsmanship are thereby not only rooted in stereotypes about the emotions and aggressiveness of female athletes in general, they are also steeped in a racial cultural ideology that frames black women as both more “mannish” as well as more aggressive and threatening than white women. Though criticism towards Williams’ outburst in that match may in some cases be legitimate, these replies that accuse her of being hysterical and classless are shaped largely by sexist and racist stereotypes that substantially structure cultural percep- tion of not only female athletes, but also black women in general.

Boycott or “Buycott” In this analytical theme, the focus is on replies to all four posts by Nike, Kaepernick and Williams that convey support or criticism of Nike by expressing intention to boycott or “buycott” their products. This includes reply type 1 (intention to boycott Nike products), type 5 (intention to buycott Nike products) and type 6 (Accusing

32 Nike of hypocrisy over using sweatshops), found in response to Kaepernick’s post. These same reply types were also found in the response to Nike’s post regarding Kaepernick and labeled as types 1, 3 and 4 for that post, as well as in the responses to Williams’ post, labeled then as types 2, 3 and 4 (see appendix 5). The reply type with replies accusing Nike of hypocrisy over sweatshops is also found in the re- sponses to Nike’s post concerning Williams, labeled as reply type 1. The replies within these types are included in this theme because they all convey either criticism or support for Nike and these marketing campaigns buy expressing intention to boycott or buycott their products. I will reiterate to begin with that the term “buycott” within this context refers to individuals expressing support of a brands’ principles and ethics by purchasing their products. It is derived from and the opposite of the term boycott. A postmate- rialism theory, which focuses on examining the increased importance of political and ethical aspects in consumption (Copeland 2014), is used here to examine why and how individuals expressed the intention to buycott/boycott Nike as a response to these Twitter-posts. The reply type accusing Nike of hypocrisy due to producing these progressive marketing campaigns while using sweatshops with low-wage workers, found in response to all four posts, is examined first in this theme. The most common expressions found in this reply type are posts stating that Nike are using cheap labor in China or other Asian countries to manufacture their products, and that they are making them work 80-100 hours every week. Some spe- cifically accuse Nike of using child and/or slave labor as well. In general, these repliers express the belief that Nike are using sweatshops, and that this makes these politically progressive marketing campaigns with Williams and Kaepernick hypo- critical. This belief has substance, as it has been reported as recently as February 2020 that some Nike products are being made through forced labor (Fifield 2020). However, those that have addressed this issue in the replies do not appear to have done so for altruistic reasons. This is evident in that many who accuse Nike of unethical practices in their posts simultaneously express a personal disdain for Kaepernick’s actions and/or Williams. As Lauren Copeland argues, postmaterialist values include taking politi- cal causes and concepts like labor practices and minority rights into consideration when it comes to being a consumer, but it is also mentioned that the link between postmaterialist values and (the increase of) politically motivated consumerism is scarcely researched (Copeland 2014). These replies however show a clear link be- tween postmaterialist values and political consumerism, as there is a focus on un- ethical labor practices by Nike and an intention to boycott motivated by political grievances against two outspoken African American athletes, Williams and Kaeper- nick. The marketing campaigns themselves are postmaterialist in a sense as well, they emphasize the athletes’ identities rather than the products. The response by

33 users itself then takes on a postmaterialist shape with Nike’s labor practices being used as way to state political and ideological opposition towards the athletes that Nike put at the center of these campaigns. In light of this, it appears that there is a dynamic here where a marketing campaign centering on political, postmaterialist issues leads to political consumerism based on postmaterialist values, though it is plausible that the latter could lead to the former too. Ultimately, Nike was engaging with potential consumers by taking certain outward political stances in these cam- paigns, which then made users on Twitter take on the role of political consumers, in this case that took on a postmaterialist form in which Nike’s sweatshops and labor practices became the main criterions for justifying a politically motivated boy- cott of their products. Next and to conclude this analytical theme, the reply types generally expressing the intention to boycott or buycott Nike products, found in response to three of the posts (excluding Nike’s post regarding Williams), are analyzed. Most of the replies stating that they will boycott Nike mainly express that they will never buy Nike products again, and/or also expressing that Nike lost a costumer through these mar- keting Twitter-posts. The replies from users that instead express the intention to buycott Nike most commonly state that they have already bought Nike products or that they intend to buy Nike products in support of these marketing campaigns. The central divide between the boycott and buycott replies here seems to mainly be rooted in a difference of political values and ideology. Those who express the intention to financially support Nike also often convey their approval of Kaeper- nick’s protest and/or Williams, while those that disavow Nike products also fre- quently expressed their dislike of Kaepernick’s protest and/or Williams. Once again, it seems that Nike’s choice of centering these marketing Twitter-posts around postmaterialist issues of identity and political protests generated a response from potential (or former) consumers that was framed around the same postmaterialist aspects, while also firmly positioning them as politically motivated consumers. There could however also be other reasons for this kind of politically motivated and postmaterialist consumerism as well. As Copeland asserts in her study, “post- materialist values significantly increase the likelihood of engaging in political con- sumerism” (Copeland 2014, p.259), which perhaps could also partially explain these boycott/buycott reply types. This would mean then that these replies were not generated purely as a result of the way Nike framed their marketing campaigns with Kaepernick and Williams, but also because the repliers themselves already favored postmaterialist values over materialist ones in their consumption choices. This would therefor make them pre-inclined to evaluate the Nike brand and their prod- ucts based on ethical and political factors rather than on the quality of the products themselves. Another assertion within this postmaterialist theorization is that “postmaterial- ists are younger, better educated, wealthier, and more interested in politics”

34 (Copeland 2014, p.264). In other words, they are privileged enough financially that they can prioritize postmaterialist values in their consumption. Based on this as- sumption, it is possible that Nike focused these campaigns on the identities and actions of Kaepernick and Williams at least partially because a substantial part of Twitter-users are relatively young, financially secure and socially aware enough to consume products primarily based on how ethical they perceive a brand to be. At the very least, this is supported by the numerous replies that explicitly stated that they will or have already purchased Nike products because of their marketing col- laborations with Kaepernick and Williams. It is also noticeable in these replies that many of those that stated they would boycott Nike were then met by other repliers who came to the defense of Nike stat- ing that they would support them in response to those that would boycott. Ulti- mately then, the postmaterialist framing of these marketing campaigns meant that even those who disavowed Nike’s products on ideological grounds were met by consumers who stated their support of Nike in response. In this sense, Nike ex- ploited the prevalence of postmaterialist values in potential consumers by empha- sizing the identities of Kaepernick and Williams in their marketing. Thereby, they facilitated a social dynamic in these replies where users supported and defended Nike precisely because Nike made their brand synonymous with socially progres- sive values through these marketing campaigns. This means that those that stated their vocal and financial support of Nike in the replies did so because they believed that they were simultaneously stating their support of certain ethical and progres- sive values, such as racial and gender equality.

35 Discussion and Conclusions

In this concluding section, I will start by summarizing and discussing both analysis chapters, followed by a discussion of the analysis in relation to the research field as well as the purpose and research questions of the thesis. I will end with conclusions based on the analysis. The first analysis chapter, Identity, History and Nostalgia – Just “Woke-Wash” it, contained two analytical themes. The first, Identity Pol- itics in Marketing, focused on how the identities of Serena Williams and Colin Kaepernick were commodified for the purposes of marketing posts on Twitter in collaboration with Nike. This theme revealed that individualized narratives relating to gender and race, detached from structural mechanisms, were built around both athletes to make their identities the main selling points in the campaigns rather than Nike products themselves. The African American identities of the athletes were emphasized in both narratives, though gender was a more noticeable factor in the Williams marketing posts. The second analytical theme in the first chapter is titled American Nostalgia. It focused on how historical American events and concepts like the civil right move- ment and the American Dream are used as expressions of nostalgia within the indi- vidualized marketing narratives of both athletes. The analysis showed that the his- tory of the civil rights movement was used to portray Kaepernick as an individual, idealized hero in the marketing campaign, and that the American Dream ideal was used in the Williams marketing campaigns to portray her as having achieved all her success solely through her own hard work. These nostalgic expressions were, like what the first analytical theme unveiled, used to construct individualized narratives of success and heroism around Williams and Kaepernick in these Nike marketing posts. A common thread then between the two analytical themes in the first analysis chapter is the emphasis on individualized, identity-based narratives in the market- ing campaigns that was detected in the analysis of the source material. The main difference was in the identity aspects that were highlighted for each of the athletes’ individual marketing narratives. Though their African American identities were central in both cases, gender and class (in relation to the use of the American Dream ideal) was more prominent in Williams’ marketing campaign, while there was more of an emphasis on anti-racist activism in Kaepernick’s marketing campaign. Ulti- mately, this analysis chapter revealed that the neoliberal individualization of mod- ern political and progressive causes also appears to structure the way in which brands like Nike attempt to “woke-wash” themselves. Not by collective or struc- tural terms, but by personalized and individualized ones. The second analysis chapter, The Response – American Values and the Brand Image of Nike, Kaepernick and Williams, contained three analytical

36 themes. All three centered on the replies to the four marketing posts by Nike, Kaepernick, and Williams, with the first theme being titled American Nationalism. This theme focused on reply types negatively comparing Kaepernick to military/po- lice and types defending his actions as freedom of speech as well as calling him a hero or role-model. In terms of the first reply type here, Kaepernick’s protest was devalued in comparison to military/police, which were positioned as the superior and ideal (white) heroes by those within that reply type. The other two reply types that were positive regarding Kaepernick instead position the military/police as sym- bols of freedom that enable Kaepernick to protest freely, although certain racial undertones are also present here when the imperialist and racist tendencies of US military/police is considered. This theme revealed then that symbols like the Amer- ican flag and military/police are imbued with different meanings depending on con- text and intention. The second analytical theme in this chapter, Femininity and Race, focused on replies describing Williams as a hero or role-model, replies expressing personal affection for her and replies criticizing Nike of endorsing her despite poor sports- manship. Regarding the first two reply types, those describing Williams as a hero or role-model reflect the individualized American Dream-narrative of the market- ing campaign, while those that display personal affection for her reflect the empha- sis on Williams’ femininity and the connotations of “softness” and emotionality that come with it in the marketing campaign. Concerning the replies that accuse Williams of poor sportsmanship, although some aspects of that criticism may be legitimate, it was still mainly based in racist and sexist perceptions of female ath- letes (especially black female athletes) as “mannish”, aggressive and emotionally instable. The third and last analytical theme in this second chapter, Boycott or “Buy- cott”, focused on replies to all four posts that expressed the intention to either boy- cott or buycott Nike products in response to these marketing posts. The analysis shows that many who express the intention to buycott Nike also mention Nike’s exploitative labor practices, but this is mainly done due to politically motivated grievance towards Williams and Kaepernick. Generally, the replies stating that they would boycott or buycott Nike products seemingly did so based on their perception of Williams and Kaepernick, and whether they believed that Nike’s association with these athletes and their actions was ethical, postmaterialist consumerism in response to postmaterialist marketing in other words. A common thread between all three analytical themes in this second chapter is that the replies to these marketing Twitter-posts became a referendum on the iden- tities of Williams and Kaepernick. As the marketing campaigns themselves were framed around the athletes’ individual identities and past actions, the response be- came in turn centered around a debate among repliers on whether Williams and Kaepernick were ideologically and ethically palatable, with the answer to that

37 question seemingly dictating whether those that replied would boycott or buycott Nike products. Conceptions of American symbols, values, and the racial subtext within impacted the replies regarding Kaepernick’s campaign, while the perception of Williams as a black female athlete and the sexist, racist connotations that came with it impacted those replies. Even those that criticized Nike’s labor practices ap- pear to have done so based on their disdain of Williams and/or Kaepernick. In gen- eral, this analysis chapter revealed that those that replied to these posts made their decision to boycott/buycott based on exactly what Nike was selling them in the campaigns, namely the identities of Williams and Kaepernick. When both analysis chapters are considered in relation to each other, certain commonalities in the analysis as a whole become visible. The main aspect both chapters have in common is the focus on the identities of the athletes involved, it reveals a dynamic where the individualized, identity-based marketing campaigns generate a response in the replies that is focused on the individual identities of the athletes as well. It can be interpreted as a type of loop, where pre-existing postmate- rialist values in consumers shapes Nike’s choice to focus on identity in these mar- keting campaign, which leads to replies focusing on postmaterialist aspects, and so on. Comparing the analysis chapters also reveals that aspects like gender, race and class are mainly understood and deployed in individual terms. Both when used for marketing purposes (to appeal to individual consumers) and when individuals make judgments on the ethics of brands and/or public figures. It is also noticeable how sentiments expressed in the campaigns (such as the American Dream ideal) are ech- oed in the replies, further highlighting the impact that these marketing posts have on how the athletes are perceived by repliers. At its core, this analysis reveals a brand that “woke-washed” its image by associating with two outspoken, politically progressive athletes, thereby positioning themselves as similarly progressive. It also reveals that those who replied in turn had to take a stance, sometimes as consumers, based on whether they agreed with or were opposed to the progressive values that Nike exploited in their marketing. In terms of the overall research field, similar studies to this were examined in the literature review section. One was by Tanja Storsul (2014), which focused on political expression on social media by examining the political expression of teen- agers on social media through focus group interviews. Another was by Geraldo Matos et al. (2017), focusing on political/progressive values and causes in branding and how it impacts brand perception. Yet another type of study discussed in the literature review was by Juan Luis Manfredi-Sánchez (2019), which analyses both politicized/socially progressive branding and the user response to it by charting the general characteristics of several political online marketing campaigns, linking it to demands from “citizen-consumers” for brand to be more socially progressive and responsible. As I already discussed certain contributions of this thesis in the

38 literature review section, I will add here that this thesis has provided a deeper un- derstanding of how both “woke” brands’ and consumers’ perception of social and political issues is comprehensively molded by a neoliberal and individualized (post- feminist) sensibility. Though studies by Storsul and others that focus on social media political ex- pression (Bennett 2012; Fox & Warber 2015) partially explore the personalization of political expression, this thesis examines the dynamic between that political ex- pression and online “woke-washed” branding. The same goes for studies that focus mostly on the branding aspect of this dynamic by Matos et al. and others (Morin et al. 2012: Shetty et al. 2019). Concerning studies by Manfredi-Sánchez and others (Hoffman 2016; Coombs & Cassilo 2017) that do examine both parts of that dy- namic, my thesis still addresses a knowledge gap by providing an in-depth, in-con- text analysis of specific cases, doing so in a comprehensive way that few other studies with similar focus appear to have done. There are however also limitations with the results of this study, as an analysis of specific cases means that the results cannot be necessarily by generalized into universally applicable conclusions regard- ing this subject. Nonetheless, the cases in question are still noteworthy ones involv- ing a high-profile brand and high-profile athletes. This case study can therefore still be helpful in providing an indication of how globally recognizable brands like Nike utilize progressive values and causes in their marketing. Concerning the grounded theory approach, it was appropriate for the purposes of the analysis as it facilitated the usage of relevant theoretical perspectives for the source material. A certain risk with this method could be an excessiveness in the number of theories used, meaning that the analysis is spread to thin, preventing a sufficiently in-depth use of the theoretical perspectives. The aim in this thesis was to strike a balance between using multiple (relevant) theoretical perspectives while still allowing for in-depth exploration of the topics in each analytical theme, and as I will discuss next, this approach was successful in answering the research questions for this thesis and fulfilling its purpose. The purpose statement of the thesis was to explore what the most prominent sentiments and values are in Nike’s communication of progressive political causes such as feminism and anti-racism through marketing campaigns on the social media platform Twitter and in the user response to the campaigns. The research questions were the following: (1) What type of socially progressive values and sentiments are communicated by Nike as well as Williams and Kaepernick on Twitter in their marketing collaborations? (2) How does Nike and the athletes in question communicate these progressive values and sentiments on social media, what are the most prominent patterns? (3) What are the most prominent patterns in the users’ political expression on Twitter in response to these marketing campaigns, what kind of values and sentiments are expressed?

39 Regarding the first research question, the analysis showed that the most prom- inent socially progressive values expressed in the marketing campaigns are racial and gender equality, the latter mainly in relation to the Williams marketing cam- paign. Moving on to the second research question, these progressive values are mainly conveyed through individualistic “self-improvement” terms while also uti- lizing the nostalgia of certain American historical events and concepts, detached from any structural understanding of the progressive causes and values utilized in the marketing campaigns. Finally, regarding the third research question, the politi- cal expression of users in response was mainly focused on the identities of the ath- letes, expressing either approval or disapproval of the identities and actions of Wil- liams and Kaepernick. Those that disapproved conveyed largely racist and/or sexist sentiments, while those that approved conveyed generally more progressive senti- ments, though certain racial and gendered undertones where still present. Consid- ering that each research question has been answered by the analysis, the main pur- pose of this thesis has therefore been fulfilled as well. In conclusion, this analysis has revealed the various political and ideological factors that shape these Nike marketing campaigns on Twitter, the replies to it, as well as the dynamic between the two. Most prominently, the pervasiveness of a neoliberal, individualized conceptualization of progressive/political values and causes has been shown to be pivotal both in how Nike have attempted to “woke- wash” their brand image in these marketing campaigns and in how those who re- plied interpreted and responded to the campaigns. Serena Williams and Colin Kaepernick were both also central in this individualized framing of these progres- sive issues, becoming personalized proxies for issues like racial equality, both for the purpose of Nike’s campaign and subsequently for the purposes of the Twitter users’ discussions in response. As previously stated, a case study of this scope is limited in terms of the extent that its results can be generalized to. However, similar case studies could be conducted in the future to explore these kind of social media dynamics even further, especially considering that brands like Nike continually use social and political causes to “woke-wash” their brand image, with the protests against police brutality in Minneapolis, Minnesota being the latest example (Pasquarelli 2020). Brands are constantly finding ways to exploit social and politi- cal causes for marketing purposes, and future research could be valuable when it comes to uncovering and exploring how brand “woke-washing” evolves.

40 Bibliography

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Appendix 1: Twitter-post by Nike Referring to Williams (Note: To avoid the risk of copyright infringement, screenshots of the posts are omitted in appendixes 1-4 of this thesis) Link: https://twitter.com/Nike/status/1037388429154115584?s=20 Date published: 2018-09-05 Text: “If you’re a girl from Compton, don’t just become a tennis player. Dream of being the greatest athlete ever.”

Appendix 2: Twitter-post by Nike Referring to Kaepernick Link: https://twitter.com/Nike/status/1037388425727332352?s=20 Date published: 2018-09-05 Text: “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything”

45 Appendix 3: Twitter post by Williams Link: https://twitter.com/serenawilliams/status/1036769320196616198?s=20 Date published: 2018-09-04 Text: “Especially proud to be part of the Nike family today #justdoit” Image description: Black and white photo of Williams playing tennis as a child, overlaid with the text “It’s only a crazy dream until you do it” and Nike logo.

Appendix 4: Twitter-post by Kaepernick Link: https://twitter.com/Kaepernick7/status/1036695513251434498?s=20 Date published: 2018-09-03 Text: “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt Image description: Close-up headshot of Kaepernick, overlaid with the text "Be- lieve in something, even if it means sacrificing everything" and Nike logo.

Appendix 5: List of reply types identified in source material Twitter-post by Nike (see appendix 1) – reply types: 1 – Accusing Nike of hypocrisy over sweatshops 2 – Accusing Nike of endorsing athlete (Williams) with poor sportsmanship Twitter-post by Nike (see appendix 2) – reply types: 1 – Expressing intention to boycott Nike products 2 – Negatively comparing Kaepernick to military/police 3 – Accusing Nike of hypocrisy over using sweatshops 4 – Expressing intention to buycott Nike products Twitter-post by Serena Williams (see appendix 3) – reply types: 1 – Describing Williams as hero/role-model 2 – Expressing intention to buycott Nike products 3 – Expressing intention to boycott Nike products 4 – Accusing Nike of hypocrisy over using sweatshops 5 – Expressing personal affection for Williams Twitter-post by Colin Kaepernick (see appendix 4) – reply types: 1 – Expressing intention to boycott Nike products 2 – Negatively comparing Kaepernick to military/police 3 – Describing Kaepernick as hero/role-model 4 – Defending Kaepernick’s actions as freedom of speech 5 – Expressing intention to buycott Nike products 6 – Accusing Nike of hypocrisy over using sweatshops

46 Appendix 6: Table outlining structure of analysis section

Chapters in 1. Identity, History and 2. The Response – American Values analysis Nostalgia – Just “Woke- and the Brand Image of Nike, section Wash” it Kaepernick and Williams Analytical Identity Poli- American American Femininity Boycott or themes in tics in Mar- Nostalgia National- and Race Buycott each chap- keting ism ter Source ma- All four All four Replies to Replies to Replies to terial ana- Twitter-posts Twitter- Twitter- Twitter- all four lyzed in (appendixes posts (ap- posts by posts by Twitter- each theme 1-4) pendixes 1- Kaeper- Williams posts (ap- 4) nick and and Nike pendixes 1- Nike (ap- (appen- 4) pendixes 2 dixes 1 and 4) and 3) Theoretical Postfeminist Nostalgia Floating “Mannish Postmateri- perspec- sensibility perspective signifier woman” alist theory tives used used to ana- applied to used to an- stereotype used to ana- to analyze lyze com- analyze use alyze and racial lyze replies the source modification of civil meaning grammar intending to material in of athletes’ rights his- assigned to theory boycott or each theme identities in tory in phrases in used to an- buycott all four posts Kaepernick replies, ra- alyze sex- Nike prod- (appendixes and Nike cial gram- ist and ucts 1-4) posts (ap- mar theory racist un- pendixes 2 used to an- dertones in and 4) and alyze ra- replies use of cial under- American tones in re- Dream in plies Williams and Nike posts (ap- pendixes 1 and 3).

47