Following on from the monumental success of its Colin Kaepernick campaign earlier this year, Nike in the UK continues to play “top ethical brand” with a new anti-racism campaign featuring English Premier League star Raheem Sterling.
Sterling, who plays for Manchester City and represented England at this year’s World Cup, stars in the social media campaign alongside the tag: “Speaking up doesn’t always make like easier. But easy never changed anything.”
In a recent game against Chelsea, Sterling – who is sponsored by Nike – claimed he was racially abused by opposing fans.
Last weekend, Sterling took to Instagram in a post that read: “I just want to say, I am not normally the person to talk a lot but when I think I need my point heard I will speak up,” he posted. “Regarding what was said at the Chelsea game, as you can see by my reaction I just had to laugh because I don’t expect no better.”
Sterling went on to drew attention to the difference in recent media coverage between a young white player buying his parents a house, and the equivalent story for a young black player and how the media’s portrayal of black footballers helped to “fuel racism and aggressive behaviour”.
“So for all the newspapers that don’t understand why people are racist in this day and age, all I have to say is have a second thought about fair publicity an give all players an equal chance,” he wrote.
