Nike’s Latest Ad Campaign Has Already Copped The Meme Treatment 

And, the internet is back at it. In the same week Nike‘s new 30th anniversary ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick debuted – the same week a number of passionately disgusted customers started to literally torch their Nike merchandise – people started to whip up a fresh batch of memes ‘cos of course they did.

Kaepernick is the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who took the knee during the pre-game National Anthem in silent protest of the mistreatment of black people in the United States. 

Kneeling during the National Anthem sparked such an almighty fury from a number of people (and President Donald Trump) the silent protest was inevitably banned.

Part of the Crazy Dream campaign, which includes a close-up of Kaepernick’s face reads: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything” with the Nike logo and slogan beneath.

Despite an initial 3 per cent drop, Nike’s online sales reportedly climbed back up by 31 per cent, performing better than the same period in 2017 according to advertising research firm Edison Trends. 

Nike has also released a commercial with sporting greats Serena Williams and Lebron James. Kaepernick, who voices the commercial, also appears in the ad.

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Don’t ask if your dreams are crazy. Ask if they’re crazy enough. #justdoit ⠀ ????: Sound on Full film at link in bio.

A post shared by nike (@nike) on Sep 5, 2018 at 10:06am PDT

So for starters, here’s the original Kaepernick ad.

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Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt

A post shared by colin kaepernick (@kaepernick7) on Sep 3, 2018 at 12:20pm PDT

And now for a couple of memes which range from savage, to cute, to funny, to SAVAGE.

Believe in something. Believe in anything. #Justdoit pic.twitter.com/Fk2UFQlMvK

— Funny Or Die (@funnyordie) September 6, 2018

Some of the new Nike ads seem a little off… pic.twitter.com/876y29OEGm

— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) September 5, 2018

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Dog logic ???? #justdoit

A post shared by Crazy Rebels ® (@crazyrebels) on Sep 7, 2018 at 8:57am PDT

TOO SOON.

For the record, I think the @Nike ad with Kap is awesome, but some of the memes it has spawned are pretty funny. pic.twitter.com/bFAB5HZgRL

— B Raden (@Accipitor) September 4, 2018

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So inspiring @sluttypuffin @insta.single

A post shared by Betches (@betches) on Sep 7, 2018 at 7:32am PDT

Click into this tweet for a whole thread of memes.

Here’s a thread of the #JustDoIt memes. ???????? pic.twitter.com/BH4LvSRHkN

— Frankie Jay (@Anomaly4u) September 5, 2018

Obviously this one’s a fave.

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

There are also memes from several popular accounts although their Instagrams are weirdly set to ‘private’ so here are some screenshots.

SAVAGE.

I don’t think this is an official Nike thing but it’s been doing the major rounds on Twitter, this week. It’s a instructional guide on How To Burn Our Products Safely and it’s quite the laff.

Former Narcos frontman Pedro Pascal posted the guide to his Instagram account a couple of days ago. You can catch Pascal in the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984 film, due for release in November 2019. 

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Instructions.

A post shared by Pedro Pascal (@pascalispunk) on Sep 6, 2018 at 11:48pm PDT

Ahhhhh, internet.