The Texas Farm Bureau, the largest farm organization in Texas, has informed employees they could no longer wear Nikes to work following the athletic apparel maker’s decision to choose Colin Kaepernick as the face of its Anniversary of the “Just Do It” campaign, KWTX reports.
In an email to employees obtained by the station, bureau spokesman Gene Hall said that the move was made in order to avoid controversy.
“There is a wide range of viewpoints on the Nike controversy,” the email read. “Texas Farm Bureau and Affiliated Companies employees are asked to not wear Nike branded apparel while representing the companies.” The Texas Farm Bureau is an organization that represents the interests of agricultural producers and rural communities across the state as the “Voice of Texas Agriculture,” according to its website.
Meanwhile, Mississippi’s public safety commissioner announced that the state agency, including the state police, will no longer buy Nike products, saying the company is unpatriotic and unsupportive of those in uniform, the Associated Press reports.
“As commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, I will not support vendors who do not support law enforcement and our military,” according to Commissioner Marshall Fisher in a statement.
The two organizations’ boycott of Nike products is the latest since the Oregon-based company’s decision to use Kaepernick in an ad campaign. The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback began kneeling during the national anthem to protest social injustice and police brutality.
