Even months after he first placed a bright red “Make America Great Again” baseball cap in his locker, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady sought to keep distance between his personal views and the vitriolic politics of new president Donald Trump, who used that phrase as a campaign rallying cry.
Brady has never hinted in public at how his philosophies might align with those of a president whose campaign pandered to white supremacists and climate change deniers. Nor will the 12-time Pro Bowler reveal whether he agrees with the white nationalism espoused by Trump lieutenants like White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Instead, the five-time Super Bowl winner insists he displayed the Trump campaign hat simply to support a friend, and has dodged further political questions as deftly as he sidesteps pass rushers. Leading the Patriots to the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history adds to the success that helps insulate Brady against controversy, even as his friend Trump generates negative headlines.
But anyplace else that sports, business and politics overlap, the president has proven radioactive.
While Trump’s executive order on immigration threatened to affect several high-profile athletes, the president who claimed he could strengthen U.S. companies has proven bad for sports brands’ business.
Apparel maker Under Armour, whose CEO, Kevin Plank, praised Trump in a recent interview, has seen its stock price plummet since the election.
While shared support for Trump aligns Plank with Brady, who is sponsored by Under Armour, the brand is based in Baltimore, where Hilary Clinton recorded a lopsided win in November’s election. Trump garnered just over 25,000 votes cast there, compared with more than 202,000 for Clinton. In the context of those vote totals, Plank’s public praise of Trump reflects a costly disconnect between the company and its base.
“If you’re not paying attention to what you’re doing, you’re tarnishing your brand,” says sports marketing consultant Quency Phillips, president of the Que Agency. “You’d think they would take the time to understand what this means. Donald Trump’s voice bastardized a presidency, and a CEO’s voice can bastardize a brand.”
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft remain Trump supporters, but the team is far from unified in rallying around the president. Six Patriots players have opted out the team’s trip to the White House, most citing an opposition to Trump’s policies.
Trump earned more disapproval in the sports world when he issued an executive order — currently suspended after lawsuits from several state attorneys general — banning refugees and indefinitely suspending immigration to the U.S. from seven majority Muslim countries, including Iran, Yemen and Somalia.
The order would have barred four-time Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah from entering the U.S., a controversial move given that the Somali-born British distance runner has a home in Oregon, where his wife and children live.
Toronto-based boxer Alex Dilmaghani has a U.K. passport and Iranian heritage, and is concerned future rulings from Trump could strand family members hoping to see him compete in the U.S.
“If I fight in the States and the Iranian side (of my family) can’t come, it would be very hurtful because I’m very proud of my heritage,” says Dilmaghani, who is 12-1 as a pro. “It makes be pleased to be in a country like Canada.”
While Trump opponents abound in pro sports, companies looking to curry favour with the pro-business president have seen that tactic backfire.
In November Matt LeBretton, vice president of communications for Boston-based New Balance, told reporters a Trump presidency meant “things will move in the right direction.” The statement referred to Trump’s opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, but that detail didn’t stop the backlash.
Opponents of Trump, who are numerous and among fitness-minded urban millennials, soon posted videos of themselves tossing New Balance gear in the trash. Just as quickly, a neo-nazi group proclaimed the company “The Official Shoe of White People,” an unseemly label for a brand endorsed by Dominican baseball star Jose Bautista and African-American track standouts Boris Berian and Trayvon Bromell.
New Balance immediately tweeted that it doesn’t tolerate bigotry.
Under Armour’s Plank went further than New Balance had, calling Trump “a real asset” and expressing support for the president’s ideas.
“He wants to build things, he wants to make bold decisions and be really decisive,” Plank told CNBC. “I’m a big fan of people that operate in the world of publish and iterate versus think, think, think . . .”
Those comments triggered quick rebuttals from three of Under Armour’s best-known ambassadors — NBA MVP Stephen Curry, actor Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson and dancer Misty Copeland — repudiating the xenophobia that helped power Trump’s presidential campaign.
“The issue is whether Plank was speaking as a private citizen or a CEO,” says Kenneth Wong, a marketing professor at Queen’s University. “If it’s the former, then nothing is needed in terms of an apology . . . (but) if he was speaking as a CEO then he should be fired. He wasn’t hired and isn’t paid to make political statements. Under Armour should be making that point.”
While Brady has remained silent, financial analysts are still calculating the damage Plank’s public support of Trump has caused the brand.
The CEO’s interview came a week after a quarterly earnings statement revealed the company hadn’t reached analysts’ revenue projections, causing its stock price to drop nearly 25 per cent in a day.
In a note to investors last week, Susquehanna International analyst Sam Poser predicted Under Armour’s stock would fall further. He reasoned that disagreeing with the brand’s big stars on Trump renders it “nearly impossible to effectively build a cool urban lifestyle brand in the foreseeable future.”
Plank ran a full-page ad in the Baltimore Sun on Wednesday to clarify his comments and re-affirm the company’s commitment to diversity. That afternoon he officially disavowed calling Trump an “asset.”
But by then rival brand Nike was already four days into its own “Equality” campaign, which leverages the company’s roster of stars, especially Clinton supporter LeBron James, to champion inclusion and human rights.
“Nike stands against discrimination in any form,” says Nike Canada spokesperson Claire Rankine. “This is us coming together with our athletes, employees and partners and raising our voices together.”
Rankine says Nike has been crafting the initiative for a year, and its release last Sunday wasn’t aimed at wooing consumers turned off by Under Amour’s CEO.
Either way, the confluence of timing and messaging might continue to benefit Nike and harm Under Armour.
The value of Nordstrom stock climbed rapidly earlier this month when the retailer stopped selling Ivanka Trump’s fashion line, prompting the president to trash the decision in a series of Twitter posts.
Brands are recognizing that as Trump’s approval rating declines — it was at 39 per cent last week, according to a Pew Research Centre Poll — aligning with him could damage sales.
“For Under Armour, you’ve lost the ability to know your athletes can join together and support you,” Phillips says. “Nike already has that.”
–30–
The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
