Nike offered Olympic track star Allyson Felix 70% less after giving birth

When Nike “Just Do It” Bullies & Discriminates against Female Athletes

More laws, female leadership and mentors are needed to support female athletes. Ads like “Dream Crazy” and “Dream Crazier” do not accurately reflect the brand’s internal policies (according to female Nike sponsored athletes).

American runner, Mary Cain, was told by her all male coaches to lose weight until she could no longer perform

Having done strategy for the agencies of sports and outdoor brands including Nike, adidas and The North Face, I’ve long been concerned about the lack of senior, female organizational leadership in the categories of women’s training, running and outdoor sports.

I’ve observed toxic masculinity at the highest levels inside many of these organizations. Given women in sport is the largest growth opportunity of the past decade/s, companies should consider the business value of hiring more women at the top, cut out the boy’s club, fraternity-style behavior and end gender discrimination against female athletes.

Pregnant Nike athletes face losing their sponsorship salaries, as if a baby was a career-ending sports injury or terminal disease. Olympic athletes, Allyson Felix and Alysia Montano, violated their Nike Non-Disclosure Agreements to share their stories of discrimination with The New York Times. The “Dream Crazy” and “Dream Crazier” Nike ads made them angry because they are untrue to actual company practice (false advertising).

“Even if you have to watch them [Nike] roll out an ad campaign, praising women like you and preaching the importance of taking a stand, but pro sports and motherhood? That’s just crazy. The sports industry allows for men to have a full career, and when a woman decides to have a baby, it pushes women out at their prime,” says Alysia Montano, one of the top 3 runners in the world, who raced while 8 months pregnant.

Olympic runner, Alysia Montano, lost her Nike sponsorship funding for having a baby and went to ASICS, “Nike, how about you stop treating our pregnancies like injuries. ‘Believe in something?’ How about maternity leave?”

Olympic track star, Allyson Felix was not given maternity protection by her Nike sponsorship

Nike’s “Dream Crazier” ad, which suggests it fully supports women in practice (but does not)

The text of Serena Williams’ Nike voiceover in the above video:

If we show emotion, we’re called dramatic. If we want to play against men, we’re nuts. And if we dream of equal opportunity, we’re delusional. When we stand for something, we’re unhinged. When we’re too good, there’s something wrong with us. And if we get angry, we’re hysterical, irrational, or just being crazy.

But a woman running a marathon was crazy. A woman boxing was crazy. A woman dunking, crazy. Coaching an NBA team, crazy. A woman competing in a hijab; changing her sport; landing a double-cork 1080; or winning 23 grand slams, having a baby, and then coming back for more, crazy, crazy, crazy, and crazy. So if they want to call you crazy, fine. Show them what crazy can do.

A beautiful ad, but if Nike does not practice what they preach, less beautiful.

The original 2018 “Dream Crazy” Nike ad

Here is the full text of Colin Kaepernick’s narration in the famous and award winning “Dream Crazy” ad.

“If people say your dreams are crazy
If they laugh at what you think you can do
Good
Stay that way
Because what non-believers fail to understand is that calling a dream crazy is not an insult
It’s a compliment
Don’t try to be the fastest runner in your school
Or the fastest in the world
Be the fastest ever
Don’t picture yourself wearing OBJ’s jersey
Picture OBJ wearing yours
Don’t settle for homecoming queen or linebacker
Do both
Lose 120 pounds and become an Ironman after beating a brain tumor
Don’t believe you have to be like anybody to be somebody
If you’re born a refugee, don’t let that stop you from playing soccer
For the national team
At age 16
Don’t become the best basketball player on the planet
Be bigger than basketball
Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything
When they talk about the greatest team in the history of the sport, make sure it’s your team
If you have only one hand, don’t just watch football
Play it
At the highest level
And if you’re a girl from Compton, don’t just become a tennis player
Become the greatest athlete ever
Yeah, that’s more like it
So don’t ask if your dreams are crazy
Ask if they’re crazy enough.”

To the female athletes out there, are your dreams too crazy for Nike to pay you? Is your body weight your coaches job to shame you? Is your pregnancy considered a career-terminating sports injury?

If the currently reality is that women’s sporting careers are shortened significantly (or terminated) by childbearing, shouldn’t women be paid significantly more than their male counterparts because they are sacrificing more to be there? I’m still thinking of the Women’s US Soccer team, suing the United States Soccer Federation for lack of equal pay after the team won the World Cup 4 times. Seems there is still a very long way to go for equality in sport.

#marycain #nike #allysonfelix #alysiamontano #womeninsport #justdoit #athletes #bullyingprevention #coaches #runner #trackandfield #feminism #change #genderequality #dreamcrazy #dreamequality #dreammaternity