Veteran creates a t-shirt in opposition to Nike’s new campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick

Army veteran Tyler Merritt considered that the advertisement that Nike and NFL player Colin Kaepernick recently released was offensive, so he fought back.

Apart from his job as the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, Kaepernick is known as the player who chose to kneel on one knee instead of standing up when the “Star-Spangled Banner” was being played before several NFL games.

According to him, not standing during the national anthem was his way to protest against racial injustice in the U.S. While several people consider it as a brave action that many would notice, others, like Merritt, felt that it was disrespectful.

Kaepernick became a sort of image in the sports against racism, and Nike contacted him to make a new ad to address that topic.

In the advertisement, Kaepernick’s face is shown in black and white with the following message written on it: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”

Merritt, a veteran and CEO of Nine Line Apparel, considered that he had to do something about it and created a shirt that was a direct response to Nike’s collaboration with Kaepernick.

The man transformed the classic Nike slogan, “Just Do It,” into “Just Stand.” Apart from that, he modified the Nike logo for a US flag that had the same shape of it.

Read more on our Twitter account, @amomama_usa.

During an interview Merritt had with “Fox & Friends First,” he pointed out that more than a beef with Nike or whatever thing people might be thinking, what he was trying to show was respect for the national anthem.

“It’s what we stand for. It’s what we believe in. And we’re going to stick with it,” added Merritt, whose initiative went viral soon after he revealed it.

While Kaepernick chose not to stand, others, like officer Mike Morgan, sang the “Star-Spangled Banner” in an empty courthouse due to its acoustics.

The way that the structure was built carried Morgan’s voice in a way that made his presentation several times better. His rendition was so beautiful that several people said that it gave them goosebumps.