By way of explaining why the last few years have focused on AF1/AJ1/Dunk (and not new innovation), JD is quoted in Fast Company as saying: “We don’t apologize for exploiting sneaker culture”.
I’m not a JD hater (I tend to think that the hate he gets would be better spread across the SLT), and I don’t see him as having a race problem at all. But the idea that our CEO thinks Nike has been “exploiting” culture sure feels bad. Not sure if he thinks we’ve exploited Black culture specifically or if we’ve just exploited all sneakerheads out there (like we’ve tricked them into buying our stuff, I guess?) but either way this is telling to how JD perceives our consumer and how they interact with our product. It’s a transactional thing, and it’s just another reminder that he doesn’t have the game in his heart.
A smaller point but how is Comms allowing JD to give these quotes? I always picture a lot of prep for interviews like this, but maybe not. I can’t imagine KW was prepping him to deliver this quote, so where was he?