COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The management of a Colorado Springs sporting goods store has decided to stop selling Nike merchandise after the company featured Colin Kaepernick in a new marketing campaign, KRDO reports.
Prime Time Sports in the Chapel Hills Mall has a sign that reads: “Still choosing to stand / All Nike 1/2 price / “Just doing it.”
The Nike campaign has produced an enormous amount of debate on social media.
One ad image features the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback’s face with the text: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”
Kaepernick was the first NFL player to not stand during the national anthem at the beginning of the 2016 season. He did so to protest police brutality and racial inequality.
His actions sparked a national conversation about the importance of the anthem and First Amendment rights.
Stephen Martin, the owner of Prime Time Sports, said he knows he is jeopardizing his business, as a large part of his inventory is Nike NFL jerseys, according to KRDO.
Martin said he called Nike “the mother of all harlots” for the campaign and criticized its use of the term “sacrificed everything.”
“According to me, he has sacrificed a salary,” Martin posted in a note in the store’s window.
The note was surrounded by images of fallen service members.
“Nothing compared to what every soul on our ‘Honor the Flag’ memorial wall that was built a few years ago has suffered and died for,” the note read.
Martin’s sale began Tuesday in an effort to clear out all existing Nike inventory.
Kaepernick is suing the NFL, saying its owners conspired to keep him out of the league because of his protests that spread to teams nationwide.