TJ Walker breaks down Colin Kaepernick's anthem protest as a media strategy. Kaepernick stayed invisible for weeks, then exploded into headlines and predicted he'd lose endorsements. Walker sees it as a masterclass in creating a hook when you're about to say something unpopular.
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Colin Kaepernick, the professional football player, caused a stir recently by refusing to stand up for the national anthem. What lessons are we to learn? So I'm going to leave it to others to judge the patriotism and all that. I want to look at this through the lens of media communication, news hooks, how to capture attention. He was hoping to capture attention to the fact that he does not think that the United States of America treats African Americans and minorities fairly. He does not want to celebrate a country that he thinks discriminates and does not treat all people equally. Here's the thing that fascinated me. He refused to stand several other games. No one noticed till the third or fourth game. So the lesson here is, again, I'm not asking you to refuse to stand for the national anthem, but the lesson here is if you do believe in something that is strongly out of favor, that is against conventional wisdom, that is against popular will, the fact that people don't notice and instantly and cry and whine and attack you doesn't mean that it won't ultimately provide a strong media hook. It just took a while for people to notice. Once that happened, the flood of interviews came in and Colin could in fact opine to his heart's content on what he believes is injustice in America. So is this going to help his cause? I'm not sure. Is it going to help his career? His endorsement deals? Well, he's already said he anticipated losing all of his endorsement deals. There is something admirable about someone willing to stand up for a cause knowing it is going to hurt his or her own pocketbook. And that is exactly what Colin did. Before you jump all over me saying I am praising anti Americanism, again, separate issue. I can leave it to others to make judgments about whether one should stand or not stand. I love America. I love my country. But it's always kind of struck me as an odd thing to kind of force people to stand whether they want to or not, and whether you're to the point where you're instantly seen as suspicious and suspect if you don't go along with group behavior. But that's just me. What do you think? I'd love to hear from you. Please post your comments right here on YouTube or my Facebook page at facebook.com tjwalker or on Twitter jwalker.
