Believe in something: the best of the Nike Kaepernick parodies
Nike’s megawatt campaign starring American footballer and ‘take the knee’ activist Colin Kaepernick has divided US opinion. But, like any cultural milestone in the Twitter age, it has also proven fertile ground for anyone with a love of memes and basic photo editing software.
May gets memed
Rapper 50 Cent quickly latched onto the meme-ability of the campaign’s posters. He quickly used the template to troll Kanye West’s opinion that “slavery was a choice”.
The format also proved ripe for political commentators...
...and politicians themselves.
But the ad firmly exited political territory once the entertainment world caught on.
I won't lie...I almost did the nike meme....Then again does this count when I say I wanted it to be this? pic.twitter.com/xZcV5qH0PJ
— shadow759 (@shadow7591) September 6, 2018
Whelp. I'm officially over the Kaep/Nike memes. Also, I really, really love/hate whomever did this. pic.twitter.com/fEQ2mHBf7A — J.C.W (@vonOberst) September 5, 2018
Literally this @Nike ad became a meme so quickly but you gotta love these Star Wars ones better than what Nike came up with pic.twitter.com/K4jqYP50ue
— MICHAEL HIGGINS (@Higgs_Machine) September 7, 2018
Alright, this is my favorite Nike ad meme. pic.twitter.com/WoZeplyHof — Mark RK (@Mark_RK) September 6, 2018
The parodies of the new Nike/Kaepernick campaign have been the best aspect of being alive today, in this moment. So much rich humor. The best ones are the ones that go past the low-hanging fruit. Dig deep for some laughs. Haha. Like this: pic.twitter.com/0FOqesnNuN
— Kevin Fiddler (@KFidds) September 7, 2018
Sports found its natural groove through the original ad's messaging.
That new Jose Mourinho Nike ad... pic.twitter.com/ISXINHcCbu — Soccer Memes (@SoccerMemes) September 5, 2018
15 funniest memes of the Colin Kaepernick Nike ad: https://t.co/Y9oSP2qCwg
Kobe by @GrantGoldberg pic.twitter.com/Cb7eeeln8F
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) September 6, 2018
And some took the 'controversial' element of the work a little too far.
I would like to personally thank @Nike for all of the new memes that this “great” ad campaign has produced. pic.twitter.com/51C8jLWgoy
— Jeffrey Flack (@JeffreyFlack) September 6, 2018
This is my winner in the Nike meme competition pic.twitter.com/FkTpy2T84J
— silence dogood (@realBigBalls) September 7, 2018