Nike and Dutch streetwear brand Patta joined forces in a new campaign promoting the Dutch national team’s new kit ahead of the 2026 World Cup under the slogan ‘Strength is found in diversity’. In the caption accompanying the promotional video, the companies stated that they sought to ‘reimagine Dutch football through the spirit of New Netherlands’.
The one-minute visual—featuring almost exclusively non-white individuals, including Surinamese brass bands and youths in animal masks moving on all fours, resembling some kind of urban jungle—presented Dutch identity through a heavily diversity-focused lens. Combined with the use of the term ‘New Netherlands’, the campaign quickly sparked widespread mockery and backlash online.
‘The nation that gave the world Rembrandt, reduced to the level of monkeys running on all fours,’ Polish X page BostonTea wrote while sharing the video, adding that European culture was ‘becoming indistinguishable’ from African culture.
Many critics also highlighted what they saw as the contradiction of promoting diversity while featuring virtually no white people in the footage. ‘Maybe my eyes just don’t work, but I’m not seeing a lot of diversity here,’ one commenter wrote.
Dutch author Hans van Tellingen pointed to the recurring debate surrounding how woke advertising campaigns often become financially and strategically damaging for companies such as Nike, as many potential customers may turn away from brands perceived as aggressively promoting progressive inclusion agendas.
‘After all, there’s a reason Nike is posting dismal results, even in its own retail network,’ van Tellingen argued, concluding his post with the mocking phrase: ‘Go woke, go broke’. The expression was also used by US President Donald Trump in 2025 during a similar controversy involving Cracker Barrel’s logo redesign.
In recent years, Nike has indeed struggled with slowing sales, weak retail performance, and declining market momentum, while rival Adidas has steadily regained ground globally. The company’s fiscal 2025 revenue fell by 10 per cent to $46.3 billion, while fourth-quarter revenues alone dropped 12 per cent year-on-year to $11.1 billion. Nike Direct revenues declined by 14 per cent, digital sales plunged by 26 per cent, and net income collapsed by 86 per cent during the quarter as the company struggled with weak demand and heavy discounting aimed at clearing inventory.
Reuters further reported that Nike’s share of the global sports footwear market fell from 25.9 per cent to 22.9 per cent in 2025, marking its third consecutive year of market-share decline.
Meanwhile, rival Adidas has regained momentum, reporting 14 per cent quarterly revenue growth in early 2026 to €6.6 billion, driven largely by strong World Cup-related merchandise sales.
Nike has previously faced backlash over campaigns perceived as closely aligned with progressive activism, including the Colin Kaepernick racial justice advertisements, transgender-themed campaigns, and the controversy surrounding the altered colours of the St George’s Cross on England’s Euro 2024 jersey.
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