Social Listening Blog Post: Nike Boston Marathon Controversy
I decided to look at Nike again, but this time based on something that actually just happened recently. I kept seeing people talk about a controversy during the Boston Marathon, so I wanted to see what was going on and how people were reacting to it online. Basically, Nike put up a sign in Boston that said “Runners Welcome. Walkers Tolerated.” during marathon week, and it got a lot of backlash on social media. A lot of people felt like it was kind of disrespectful, especially to runners who have to walk at times or are just trying to finish the race. Looking at social media, people had pretty strong reactions. One person said the message was “out of touch,” while others pointed out that walking is a normal part of marathons for a lot of people. There were also comments from adaptive athletes who felt like the message ignored their experiences, which made the situation worse. Nike’s value proposition has always been about performance and pushing limits, but also inclusivity and motivati...