"Activist brand" XX-XY Athletics is trending

Yesterday Fox Business ran a piece on our latest ad, calling out Nike. Here’s the ad:

And here’s the article.

It describes the ad as follows:

The ad pointed out the company's recent controversies involving the billboard and the alleged trans athlete study funding, in addition to past controversies.

The video featured news headlines from various outlets, including an article from The Guardian covering former runner Mary Cain's $20 million lawsuit against Nike after allegedly suffering years of emotional abuse. The ad also featured a 2023 BCC article covering Canada's ethics watchdog launching an investigation into allegations that Nike Canada and a gold mining company benefited from Uyghur forced labor in their China operations.

I’ve received some “feedback” that I often point out the need to get back to “normie capitalism” — and for companies to focus on outstanding product, unifying marketing and financial discipline. And that we at XX-XY Athletics are not doing that. That we are an “activist” political brand. And that I am a hypocrite for advocating for “normie capitalism” while further a divisive, activist message.

I thought I’d address it here.

Arguably we are the “normie” brand focused on unifying messaging since 80% of Americans agree that women’s sports are for XX only. That is the reality-based, normal point of view.

That message is not — or should not be — political. It only is perceived that way because the left wing, trans activists have made it so. We’re just promoting a view that is grounded in reality (men are stronger and faster than women and that is why a separate sports category was created for women, so that we would have the opportunity to compete and win and access all of the opportunity that sport provides).

We ARE focused on outstanding product and financial discipline. This is not a gimmick. We won’t make it if don’t make great product and manage our budget in a disciplined fashion.

But most importantly, my main issue with “woke capitalism” — the opposite of “normie capitalism” — is the hypocrisy. And that is what we are pointing out in the latest ad.

Nike — which I cite often as the most egregious example of woke capitalism, though there are many others — presents one image to the world, but behind the scenes acts in the totally opposite fashion. They pretend to champion female athletes and women more broadly, but do no such thing. They refused Allyson Felix — one of their top female athletes a few years back — maternity protections. The company abused Mary Cain — an athlete in their now defunct running club called the Oregon Running Project — to the point of suicidality. They harassed and bullied female executives. This is not a brand that actually stands up for women but they make plenty of money off of pretending to.

Beyond that, there have been myriad other controversies. There have been allegations that they make their products in China using Uyghur forced labor. (They do make product in China, what they insist is not true is that they use forced labor but brands cannot monitor factories in China so how would they know? That is why some brands choose not to manufacture there. As we did at Levi’s.) Nevertheless the board votes repeatedly to continue sourcing raw materials and manufacturing in China, where there is zero transparency into supplier practices.

And of course, as recently as last week, Nike posted a billboard at the London Marathon with the phrase “Never Again. Until Next Year” alluding to the Holocaust as the phrase Never Again is used in association with the lessons of the genocide.

And don’t get me started on the medical experiment they seem to be funding on young boys to better understand if they can be weakened enough with puberty blockers and wrong sex hormones to viably compete against girls.

It’s the hypocrisy I take issue with. They present themselves as social justice warriors in an effort to profit off of their supposed stances. But they repeatedly behave in ways that disregard actual women. And the China situation is just one big human rights violation.

At XX-XY Athletics, we present ourselves exactly as we are. Our behaviors align with our messaging, for better or for worse. We say we are the only athletic brand to stand up for the protection of women’s sports, and we put our money where our mouth is. We don’t do one thing publicly and another behind the scenes.

We work with athletes who stand up for the protection of women’s sports. We platform unknown athletes brave enough to do so. We offer them ambassador deals and aim to take the sting out of monetary cancellation with our Courage Wins Award, a financial reward to women who stand up for the protection of women’s sports, often by standing down and refusing to compete.

We do it because we believe there is a market for a brand that stands up for women’s sports. (Since 80% of Americans agree.) We do it because it is the right thing to do and we believe that we can help to normalize standing up and saying “Women aren’t men. And they deserve their own sports and spaces.” (Why that isn’t already normal I’ll never understand, but it will be one day.) We willingly take the vilification in the mainstream media — and from trans activists — that comes with that stance.

In short, we aren’t hypocrites. And I cannot say the same for the sportswear behemoth Nike.

Behaving with integrity IS normie capitalism and I’m proud to say, we do that.