Nike responds to backlash over Dylan Mulvaney partnership, instructs customers to 'Be kind, be inclusive'

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Athletic apparel giant Nike doubled down on its decision to use transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney in marketing campaigns to promote the company's female clothing.

In a pinned comment to Nike's verified Instagram account, the company instructed customers to "Be kind, be inclusive … Encourage each other."

The response came amid calls for a boycott of the company shortly after Mulvaney, who identifies as female, appeared in paid social media content dancing in Nike women's sportswear.

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Nike's logo in Los Angeles April 12, 2016. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)

Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies has been one of the athletes leading calls for customers to stop buying Nike's products.

Davies, who won silver in the 1980 Moscow Olympics, said Nike's decision represented a "step" back after some sports organizations created protected categories for biological women in competitions.

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"It's so frustrating. We take two steps forward with World Athletics and Swim England protecting women's sport and then Nike does this," Davies told Dan Wootton Tonight on GB News.

"The ad feels like a parody of what women are. In the past, it was always seen as an insult to say ‘run like a girl,’ and here we've got someone behaving in a way that's very unsporty and very unathletic. And it's so frustrating when only 1% of the USA sponsorship dollar goes to females in sport. That Nike would do this feels like a kick in the teeth."

The exterior of a Nike store Nov. 30, 2022, in Miami (Jeremy Moeller/Getty Images)

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