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Nike’s Powerful ‘Don’t Do It’ Ad Urges Us Not To Ignore Racial Injustice

It’s been a volatile week around the country after yet another unarmed black man was killed at the hands of police. George Floyd, 46, died on Monday in Minneapolis after an officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes while Floyd pleaded that he was unable to breathe.

When local prosecutors initially declined to bring charges against the officer in question, Derek Chauvin, protesters took to the streets in Minneapolis and elsewhere around the country in demonstrations that quickly turned violent. In the aftermath on Friday, authorities eventually arrested Chauvin and charged him with murder.

Several athletes have taken front center with protesters in solidarity, including retired NBA player Stephen Jackson, who was a close personal friend of Floyd, and Karl-Anthony Towns, the Timberwolves star who joined the demonstration in Minneapolis. Now Nike, the Oregon-based shoe and apparel company, has added its voice to the mix with a powerful new ad about the need to take action against racial inequality in America.

Below is the full transcript of the memo Nike sent out to employees on Friday, in which Donahoe discusses the company’s responsibility to inspire others to take action, a sentiment reflected in its new commercial.

This isn’t the first time Nike has spoken out about these issues. In September of 2018, they debuted a campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick with the tagline “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”