Nike Faces Furious Boycott Calls

Nike is facing boycott calls in the U.K. over its new design of the England soccer team's uniform, with the company accused of "desecrating" the flag.

The athletic apparel brand revealed the team's new home and away gear on March 18, ahead of the European Championship in Germany this summer.

The white home shirts are emblazoned with the three lions—England's royal coat of arms—and the Nike logo, with a multi-colored St. George's cross on the back of the collar.

The symbol is typically red against a white background, such as in England's flag, with Nike hoping the change will "unite and inspire."

The purple away jerseys also feature the Nike logo and royal crest, along with blue, yellow and black stripes down each side.

The new home design will be worn by England's team for the first time on Saturday as they face Brazil in an exhibition game, known as a friendly in Britain, at Wembley Stadium in London.

However, the changes to St. George's cross sparked uproar online, with several soccer fans threatening to boycott the brand.

"Definitely boycott buying this Nike c***. Absolutely outrageous. DO NOT purchase," said @VanThorb on X, formerly Twitter.

Creative_reasoning agreed, asking: "Does Nike realize that this is a boycott-able offense?"

"The woke have come for our flag!" said Ben Smith.

"This wouldn't happen with any other country! We're not allowed to be English anymore or [something]???" wrote Spike.

"This whole movement of the LGBTQ is being rammed down our throats enough as it is," said Kris Scott.

"Won't be buying that woke Nike sack of s***," commented Kev, while Joe Turner said: "This is unbelievably disrespectful to the U.K.."

Nigel Farage—a conservative politician and former leader of the U.K. Independence Party—hit out at the new design on GB News.

"It bears no relationship to the cross of St. George whatsover," the 59-year-old said. "If the England football team think that's acceptable, well, why on Earth would you be apologetic about Englishness, if you're going to play for England in the European football finals."

Newsweek has reached out to Nike for comment via email.

Other users defended the new uniforms, calling fury over the color change "sad."

"F****** gammons and spanners are calling it 'woke' and calling for a boycott," said Andrew O'Neill, pointing out that the tones used in the cross emblem match the away shirt's design. "This isn't an LGBTQA+ thing you dreary morons."

"The flag s******* boycotting Nike [are] so funny coz they're the same people who get mad when others want to boycott other companies," wrote abz.

"Nike have pulled a master stroke here," said John. "This kit seems to be all over Twitter now, the amount of folk who wouldn't have bought it anyway giving it the big 'don't buy it, boycott Nike' has given this so much more traction."

Nike isn't the first brand to face a calls for a boycott in recent years. It is estimated that Anheuser-Busch lost $1 billion in profits between April 2023 and February 2024, following a boycott of Bud Light.

The brand upset a large portion of its customer base by partnering with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, sending the 27-year-old a crate of beer with her face on it to honor her first full year as a woman.

Tyson Foods is also currently receiving cancelation calls over claims it plans to hire migrants. The outrage was sparked by an article in Scripps News—which has since been retracted.

Conservatives reacted with outrage to the article claiming that the company was hiring some of the asylum seekers who arrived in New York City. However, a spokesperson for Tyson Foods told Newsweek the figures presented in that retracted article were inaccurate.

Tyson Foods responded to boycott calls in a statement.

"In recent days, there has been a lot of misinformation in the media about our company, and we feel compelled to set the record straight. Tyson Foods is strongly opposed to illegal immigration, and we led the way in participating in the two major government programs to help employers combat unlawful employment, E-Verify and the Mutual Agreement between Government and Employers program," the statement reads.