# Sports Store That Boycotted Nike Over Colin Kaepernick Ads Forced To Close



## Lady-RuffDiamond (Feb 15, 2019)

https://www.theguardian.com/busines...ed-nike-over-colin-kaepernick-ads-closes-shop

Skip to main content

*Sports store that boycotted Nike over Colin Kaepernick ads forced to close*


Stephen Martin stopped selling Nike goods in protest at Nike’s pro-Kaepernick campaign – but now he’s going out of business

Adrian Horton

Thu 14 Feb 2019 21.57 GMTLast modified on Fri 15 Feb 2019 03.37 GMT





Last fall, the launch of Nike’s 30th anniversary “Just Do It” advertising campaign, which starred ex-NFL star and social justice activist Colin Kaepernick, generated plenty of criticism. Vitriol poured on to social media; some disgruntled customers burned their Nike shoes on video. 

Stephen Martin was upset enough with the choice of Kaepernick – the quarterback who began kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality and systemic racism – that he stopped selling Nike products in his Colorado sporting goods store.

Now his store, Prime Time Sports, is going out of business after 21 years. “For everybody that has offered help and support through the ‘Honor The Flag’ memorial wall and Nike boycott, now is your time to help me liquidate,” he posted on Facebook on Monday.

Storeowner Stephen Martin’s post on Facebook announcing the closing of Prime Time Sports after 21 years.
Martin told a local TV station that he could no longer pay the store’s lease just north of Colorado Springs in part because of online outlets and declining retail sales. But the cut in business from boycotting Nike hurt him badly.

“Being a sports store and not having Nike jerseys is kind of like being a milk store without milk or a gas station without gas. They have a virtual monopoly on jerseys,” Martin told KKTV Colorado Springs.

Martin has been a vocal critic of Kaepernick and the protest he launched during the NFL’s national anthems. In 2016, when Kaepernick, then the starting quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, started kneeling during the anthem , Martin cancelled an autograph signing with Broncos star and fellow kneeler Brandon Marshall.

Kaepernick eventually left the 49ers as a free agent; he was not signed by another team, and has sued the league for collusion to blackball him. Off the field, he remains a highly visible face of the #BlackLivesMatter social justice movement – perhaps most prominently through the Nike ad campaign.

The son of a veteran, Martin said he disagreed with the ads’ declaration “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”

“I don’t think [Kaepernick] knows what it’s like,” to sacrifice everything, he told local Fox 21.

At the time, Martin said that 50 to 60% of his business involved Nike products, so boycotting the brand would likely have dire consequences for his store.

“Probably won’t be able to keep the doors open,” he said. “I really doubt that I can survive without Nike.” Time has now proved himself right.


----------



## frizzy (Feb 15, 2019)

Did he say Kap don't know sacrifice?


----------



## SoopremeBeing (Feb 17, 2019)

Don’t know what he’s complaining about. HE is the one who chose to stop carrying Nike product, no one forced him to.

There’s plenty of jobs out there, so *shrug*


----------



## Laela (Feb 17, 2019)

The irony... silly white man. SMH



frizzy said:


> Did he say Kap don't know sacrifice?


----------



## MrsQueeny (Feb 18, 2019)

Welp! Q


----------



## Atthatday (Feb 18, 2019)

I’m offering thoughts and prayers to...




Mr. Kaep!


----------



## Atthatday (Feb 18, 2019)




----------



## Crackers Phinn (Feb 18, 2019)

This is the price of integrity.  He stood by his principles now he’s got to figure out a new way to earn a living.  

See how that works.   He’s white in America and will be fine so I’m not concerned.


----------



## Laela (Feb 18, 2019)

Yes, Kap already showed us all how that integrity thing works.. ..  





Crackers Phinn said:


> This is the price of integrity.  He stood by his principles now he’s got to figure out a new way to earn a living.
> 
> *See how that works.   H*e’s white in America and will be fine so I’m not concerned.


----------



## Crackers Phinn (Feb 18, 2019)

Laela said:


> Yes, Kap already showed us all how that integrity thing works.. ..


True.  The definition of integrity doesn't change depending on the person's POV.   One way or the other people who refuse to bend often find themselves broke.


----------



## Laela (Feb 18, 2019)

^^ Well, we all know that good will always overcome evil... 

*Kaepernick Won. The NFL Lost.*
It doesn’t matter how much he made from the settlement announced on Friday; he bested the league.

FEB 17, 2019    Jemele Hill
Staff writer for _The Atlantic_





LOREN ELLIOTT / REUTERS


----------



## Crackers Phinn (Feb 18, 2019)

Laela said:


> ^^ Well, we all know that good will always overcome evil...


There's no proof of that in the entire world.


----------



## Laela (Feb 19, 2019)

I'm pretty sure Kap winning over NFL is proof of that. 




Crackers Phinn said:


> There's no proof of that in the entire world.


----------



## Laela (Feb 19, 2019)

I'm having a hard time ingesting this, esp on a board of women of color..

Where is the _integrity _with this shop owner? When Kap started silently using his platform to protest injustices, he was protesting clear, factual injustices. Nike chose to stand behind him in unity. This shop owner chose to go against that unity and stand on his own. I'm not challenging this shop owner's right to choose to pull Nike products off his shelves..he had every right.  But I fail to see any _Integrity_ in that. Integrity and Principle should not be synonymous, because we don't all have the same fundamental belief systems. But when someone (or a system) is purposefully hurting and harming  human beings, it's a moral issue -- and to stand in support of that is inhumane.




Crackers Phinn said:


> This is the price of integrity.  He stood by his principles now he’s got to figure out a new way to earn a living.
> 
> See how that works.   He’s white in America and will be fine so I’m not concerned.


----------



## OhTall1 (Feb 19, 2019)

Doesn't Nike have the highest market share in the sneaker world?  How did he seriously think his business was going to survive this?


----------



## Brwnbeauti (Feb 19, 2019)

Laela said:


> I'm having a hard time ingesting this, esp on a board of women of color..
> 
> Where is the _integrity _with this shop owner? When Kap started silently using his platform to protest injustices, he was protesting clear, factual injustices. Nike chose to stand behind him in unity. This shop owner chose to go against that unity and stand on his own. I'm not challenging this shop owner's right to choose to pull Nike products off his shelves..he had every right.  But I fail to see any _Integrity_ in that. Integrity and Principle should not be synonymous, because we don't all have the same fundamental belief systems. But when someone (or a system) is purposefully hurting and harming  human beings, it's a moral issue -- and to stand in support of that is inhumane.


The shop owners strong moral principles made Nike unacceptable to sell. An argument can be made for standing in respect to the flag and anthem. I don’t agree with it but I acknowledge it’s existence.

The shopowner is an idiot


----------



## myoung (Feb 19, 2019)

OhTall1 said:


> Doesn't Nike have the highest market share in the sneaker world?  How did he seriously think his business was going to survive this?



He didn’t think.  Fox News and Trump failed to give him that information nor will they help his store survive.  Oh well....


----------



## Atthatday (Feb 19, 2019)

Laela said:


> I'm having a hard time ingesting this, esp on a board of women of color..
> 
> Where is the _integrity _with this shop owner? When Kap started silently using his platform to protest injustices, he was protesting clear, factual injustices. Nike chose to stand behind him in unity. This shop owner chose to go against that unity and stand on his own. I'm not challenging this shop owner's right to choose to pull Nike products off his shelves..he had every right.  But I fail to see any _Integrity_ in that. Integrity and Principle should not be synonymous, because we don't all have the same fundamental belief systems. But when someone (or a system) is purposefully hurting and harming  human beings, it's a moral issue -- and to stand in support of that is inhumane.



I agree with your points. Why would any racist, or some people choose to be about the cause?

Yes, it’s a moral issue, but some folks only care about themselves. In this case, the owner cared about his principles (himself) and lost. But, I’m not worried about him, he’s 2520 and he’ll bounce back, as stated upthread.

I’ve accepted that some of the privileged don’t care, may never care, about Black people, and I’m not willing to help them care. I do relish in the consequences of being privileged (and, yes there are some consequences to being privileged), as in this case.


----------



## Atthatday (Feb 19, 2019)




----------



## Laela (Feb 19, 2019)

Kap's protest wasn't about the national anthem, that's part of the problem... too many people falling for that

..and can you tell me what those strong moral principles are please?



Brwnbeauti said:


> The shop owners strong moral principles made Nike unacceptable to sell. *An argument can be made for standing in respect to the flag and anthem. *I don’t agree with it but I acknowledge it’s existence.
> 
> The shopowner is an idiot


----------



## Crackers Phinn (Feb 19, 2019)

Laela said:


> I'm pretty sure Kap winning over NFL is proof of that.


How exactly did Kap win over the NFL?  The NFL seems to be doing fine financially which is all they care about. 




Laela said:


> I'm having a hard time ingesting this, esp on a board of women of color..
> 
> Where is the _integrity _with this shop owner? When Kap started silently using his platform to protest injustices, he was protesting clear, factual injustices. Nike chose to stand behind him in unity. This shop owner chose to go against that unity and stand on his own. I'm not challenging this shop owner's right to choose to pull Nike products off his shelves..he had every right.  But I fail to see any _Integrity_ in that. Integrity and Principle should not be synonymous, because we don't all have the same fundamental belief systems. But when someone (or a system) is purposefully hurting and harming  human beings, it's a moral issue -- and to stand in support of that is inhumane.



Again integrity is about being truthful and upholding strong moral principles.  The shopkeeper told the truth about what he was doing and why he felt strongly about it.  You fail to see the integrity of the shopkeeper because you don't share his moral principles.   The definition of integrity doesn't change because people are on opposite sides of an issue.    He's doing exactly what people are applauding Mo'Nique for and getting the exact same result I might add.


----------



## SoopremeBeing (Feb 19, 2019)

OhTall1 said:


> Doesn't Nike have the highest market share in the sneaker world?  How did he seriously think his business was going to survive this?



White business owners, by habit, never seem to understand the long-term reprucussions of their decisions made out of greed or anger. Have you seen the Netflix documentary Dirty Money?

Nike may not be the most ethical company on the planet, but at least they know better than to piss off the #1 consumer. White people are just angry that a company with their hands in EVERY SINGLE THING sided with the Black guy.

Now he’s gone out of business. I wonder if Fox News or Trump will help him pay his mortgage for being such a patriot.


----------



## OhTall1 (Feb 19, 2019)

SoopremeBeing said:


> Have you seen the *Netflix documentary Dirty Money*?


Funny that you'd mention this.  I'm literally home sick binge watching this now and am on the payday loan episode.


----------



## Brwnbeauti (Feb 19, 2019)

Laela said:


> Kap's protest wasn't about the national anthem, that's part of the problem... too many people falling for that
> 
> ..and can you tell me what those strong moral principles are please?


I know what his protest was about.
Pretty sure that’s what the store owner’s POV was.
Keep in mind that by definition moral principles vary by culture, individual and group.


----------



## Stormy (Feb 21, 2019)

He stopped selling Nike jerseys and now says: “Being a sports store and not having Nike jerseys is kind of like being a milk store without milk or a gas station without gas. They have a virtual monopoly on jerseys,” Martin told KKTV Colorado Springs. and: “Probably won’t be able to keep the doors open,” he said. “I really doubt that I can survive without Nike.”

Yeah, Hindsight is 20/20.


----------

