Nike thought it had a slam dunk with its first Super Bowl ad in nearly three decades, but instead, it got torched. The one-minute commercial, packed with female sports stars like Caitlin Clark, Sha’Carri Richardson, and Sabrina Ionescu, was meant to celebrate women’s athletics—but critics say it ignored the real issue facing female athletes today: the fight to keep biological males out of women’s sports.
The ad featured slogans like, “You can’t flex, so flex” and “You can’t win, so win,” trying to push an outdated feminist narrative that women still aren’t allowed to succeed in sports. But athletes fighting for the integrity of women’s competitions weren’t buying it.
Powerlifter April Hutchinson, who was suspended from Canada’s powerlifting federation for standing up against trans athletes in women’s competitions, called Nike’s message completely out of touch. “I’ve never been told I can’t flex or do this or that,” she said.
Sia Liilii, captain of the University of Nevada’s women’s volleyball team, also wasn’t impressed. Her team made headlines after opposing their school’s decision to force them to compete against a transgender athlete. She called Nike’s ad nothing more than “fake feminism.”
XX-XY Athletics, a brand dedicated to protecting fairness in women’s sports, released a brutal response video, featuring multiple female athletes exposing Nike’s hypocrisy. “Women can flex, be confident, be emotional, fill stadiums. And win. But what can’t they do? Speak. On one subject in particular: protecting women’s sports,” the group said in a statement.
Sports civil rights advocate Riley Gaines summed it up best: “‘Just Do It’—that’s your slogan, isn’t it, Nike? Just do it. Stand up for women. It’s the easiest thing in the world to do.”
Jennifer Sey, a former U.S. gymnast and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, didn’t hold back either. She took to X to blast Nike, saying, “You’re so full of it. The only thing female athletes are told they can’t do is stand up for the integrity of their sports, for keeping men out of women’s sports. Literally, that’s the only thing.”
Longtime sports broadcaster Michele Tafoya echoed that sentiment. “Nike is too late to this party,” she wrote. “And they’re stuck in stereotypical language from about 25 years ago. What a waste of ad dollars.”
Nike may want to claim it supports women, but its track record tells another story. The company had no problem cutting endorsement deals with biological males like Dylan Mulvaney to represent its women’s line. But when real female athletes speak out to defend their sports? Nike is nowhere to be found.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has actually done something about it. He delivered on his campaign promise by signing the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order on Feb. 5. While some states complied and the NCAA tightened its trans athlete policy, blue states like Minnesota are refusing to protect women’s sports.
Nike’s attempt to pander to women while ignoring the biggest issue facing female athletes today is a perfect example of corporate virtue-signaling at its worst. The truth is, the only people telling women what they can’t do are the ones shutting them up when they demand fairness.
