Sep 05 2018
News Comment #3 – Nike Returns to Familiar Strategy With Kaepernick Ad Campaign
This article has a very good example of an eye-catching lead. From the first sentence or two I wanted to keep reading to know where the writer was going through. It leads you into something that catches your eye, and in this story that means controversial athletes and stances. The writer does a good job of drawing in the reader’s attention with the statement about Nike and controversial athletes.
This story fits under two main news values. The first news value they mention is prominence. This fits under this news value because of the prominence Colin Kaepernick has due to not only his NFL career, but also because of his voice that he has been using to speak against an idea he believes in. Whenever a celebrity/athlete of his stature does anything, especially in conjunction with a big brand such as Nike.
The other news value this shows is conflict for many different reasons. The many conflicts of this story make it perfect for news and media outlets. One of the conflicts that lie in this story is the conflict between Nike and its consumers. Consumers who don’t believe in Kaepernick’s protest are threatening a boycott of Nike. Another area of conflict in this story is the conflict between the NFL and Colin Kaepernick. Colin has been in a collusion case with the NFL because of his idea that the NFL has been colluding to keep him out of the league. Another final conflict is between the NFL and Nike. This conflict exists due to the NFL and Nike having contracts to keep Nike as the official uniform of the NFL. With the NFL having the fight with Kaepernick, this could lead to an interesting development with the NFL and Nike should anything become of the Colin Kaepernick collusion case.
One response so far
I’m not sure how to categorize this lead. It is “delayed,” not coming until the third graf. But its focus is not so much about Nike, but about its advertising strategy, which has been unique — and successful — for decades.