So, first of all, watch this ad from Nike. It’s called “Equality”, and it’s amazing:

Amazing.

So, related: it’s not been a good week for Under Armour. Early in the week, the company’s stock took a massive nosedive after earnings expectations came in lower than expected.

Then, Kevin Plank called the new President an asset for the country because of his business know-how, to which Steph Curry, the company’s most high profile athlete, responded by saying he agreed with the description, only if the “et” from asset was removed.

And then to ad insult to injury for Plank and Under Armour’s no good, horrible very bad week, Nike released this ad. Was the timing related? They obviously created it before this week’s controversy, but there’s no doubt the timing is effective on multiple fronts.

That is LeBron James front and center too. As more athletes speak their mind publicly on social and political issues, it’s natural that companies would market off the new activism and counter-market against the controversies.

Reebok went the same route with a shirt complete with a slogan inspired by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren as well.

Expect way more of this type of counter-marketing in the future by savvy companies and taking cues from what Nike and Reebok have done, as well as what Lyft famously did in the wake of Uber’s fiasco.

[Refinery29]

About Matt Lichtenstadter

Recent Maryland graduate. I've written for many sites including World Soccer Talk, GianlucaDiMarzio.com, Testudo Times, Yahoo's Puck Daddy Blog and more. Houndstooth is still cool, at least to me. Follow me @MattsMusings1 on Twitter, e-mail me about life and potential jobs at matthewaaron9 at Yahoo dot com.