Marketing

Nike’s ‘Color Rush’ uniforms prove problematic for colorblind fans

November 13, 2015 | By Jordan Valinsky

Nike’s special “Color Rush” uniforms caused a rash of complaints last night.

For Thursday’s game between the New York Jets and the Buffalo Bills, Nike ditched the usual arrangement of having one team wearing white to help fans differentiate teams from afar. Instead, they designed an all-red uniform for the Bills and an all-green uniform for the Jets, causing complete confusion.

Here’s what the game looked like for colorblind fans:

During the game, fans, players and even NFL officials complained about it on Twitter:

Bills’ head coach Rex Ryan admitted in a press conference after the game that he was confused: “But hell, I look out there and my team’s in red. Blue, I might have had a chance. But I’m like, ‘Who are they? Oh shoot, that’s us,'” he said. “So, it’s different.”

Even NFL.com blasted its sponsor and called it a “Christmas-tinged nightmare.”

The complaints are valid because colorblindness is common. According to the National Eye Institute which says that as many as 8 percent of U.S. men (and 0.5 percent of women) have it. It also didn’t help that MetLife’s green turf only compounded to the problem.

When Nike announced the “Color Rush” initiative between itself and the NFL earlier this month, the company said the idea was to “recapture the spectacle by highlighting color in a reinvigorated and reimagined way” as a way to celebrate the 50th year that football has been shown in color on television.

Digiday didn’t immediately hear from Nike if it plans to change the uniforms since the rest of this season’s Thursday games all have the “Color Rush” theme. The special uniforms are available for sale on Nike’s website if you want to troll your colorblind friends in real life, too.

Images via Twitter. 

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