Nike's first Super Bowl commercial in 27 years featured Caitlin Clark, Sha'Carri Richardson, Jordan Chiles, and JuJu Watkins and attempted to persuade female athletes to drown out anyone who says they cannot win:
Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer, told her X followers that she liked the ad until she remembered how Nike has treated women like Allyson Felix, a seven-time Olympic champion whose endorsement deal was cut by 70% when she got pregnant, "literally telling her to know her place and just run."
"You can see in her Instagram post where she said she would wake up at 4:30 am five months pregnant to train so she could continue to train and hide it from Nike," Gaines noted. "She started her own shoe company, and just two years later, she qualified for her fifth Olympic games, with her daughter watching in the stands."
The female activist also pointed out that Nike has celebrated the men who have infiltrated "every level of women's sports," treating them better than women under the guise of feminism.
"But I'm not falling for it," Gaines said. "Nike only cares about women when it's cool or profitable."
Nike's official company stance supports men competing in women's sports "because sport is better when all athletes are free to play as themselves," the website states.
Meanwhile, a recent New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans do not think "transgender" athletes should be permitted to compete in women's sports. Of the 2,128 people polled, 79% – including 67% of the 1,025 who identified as Democrats or leaning Democrat – said said males should not be allowed to compete in women's sports.
A Gallup poll conducted last year had similar results.
