At a time when the country’s politics have "roiled the masses in the kind of way that cuts across all swaths, NBA stars are speaking out," according to Sam Amick of USA TODAY. That includes Pelicans C Anthony Davis, who has been featured on Nike posters as part of the company's "Equality" campaign. Davis' face this weekend, coinciding with the NBA All-Star Game, covered the "entire side of a building across the street from the Superdome" to promote the effort. Davis said, "That (ad) is basically saying ‘Whatever size, shape, color, it doesn’t matter; on and off the floor, everybody should be equal. That’s what we preach over at Nike. What we’ve been preaching the past couple weeks is equality, especially with everything that is going on." NBPA Exec Dir Michele Roberts said, "I have not seen anything inappropriate coming out of any of the players’ mouths, and am unbelievably proud of the willingness of so many of our players to be heard on issues that affect them. The good news there’s been no efforts to suppress expression, and I don’t anticipate that there will be. And if there is, then we’ll be ready to push back. These are incredibly volatile times, and I firmly anticipate that there will be additional comments made by players, and they have the right to make those comments" (USATODAY.com 2/18). In Chicago, Greenstein, Bannon & Thompson wrote Nike's "Equality Has No Boundaries" commercial was a "winner" over the weekend. The commercial said, "Opportunity should not discriminate. The ball should bounce the same for everyone" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/20).
ALL TOGETHER NOW: USA TODAY's Luke Kerr-Dineen noted as a "continuation of that 'Equality' campaign, all of Nike’s golfers competing in this week’s Genesis Open dressed in head-to-toe black for the opening day of play in solidarity with the message" (USATODAY.com, 2/19).
