New York, January 14, 2026 (NA) – The photo of Nicolás Maduro, married to US officials and aboard the USS Iwo Jumbo to New York, shared by Donald Trump on Truth Social, meant an unexpected stroke of luck for Nike due to the viral notoriety of the brand's garment that the deposed Venezuelan president was wearing. “Nicolás Maduro, the dictator who sanctioned American products, was dressed from head to toe in the country's most iconic sports brand that he claims to hate,” expresses a reel from the account @marketing.conjuani, to which the Noticias Argentinas agency had access. The publication in major media such as CNN, BBC, Fox, NBC or The New York Times and in millions of social media accounts generated millions of impressions for which the company did not pay. There were profiles that dared to estimate that Nike earned about 100 million dollars “without spending a cent.” The impact of the event was immediate. The videos and images were played non-stop and Maduro's clothing at the time of his capture, a gray sportswear set called “Nike Tech Fleece” that is part of the brand's casual line and costs about 260 dollars, quickly became a global trend. It has been the uniform for rappers like Central Cee, basketball stars like Kevin Durant, and soccer teams like FC Barcelona. One of the most commented aspects revolved around the fact that this garment belongs to a brand symbol of yankee culture; when the Venezuelan dictator's speech, now imprisoned in the USA, always pointed to “anti-imperialism” and confronting the typical Western consumption capitalism. In cities like New York, the fleece-lined set is an unofficial uniform for going to the corner store and the gym. Sales spike Sales of this model quickly spiked in Nike's virtual store in the US in the hours after the attack, even until the stock ran out. In some social media accounts linked to the marketing world, there were users who highlighted that the explanation lies not only in the morbid curiosity about the details in this type of event, but also in the speed with which access is obtained to the banal aspects of such a complex fact. “Everything is trivialized and turned into a meme. Searches for Nike occurred in parallel to where is Venezuela,” said a user on LinkedIn. “There is an obsession with the detail but everything is done with detachment, the surface of the photo is consumed but not what it represents,” was another comment. Earned media According to some publications, this seems to be a typical case of earned media. Nike obtained free publicity through mentions by third parties, without having paid directly for it. Unlike paid media or owned media, earned media is based on word-of-mouth and the relevance and value of the content. Its immediate effect is the increase in brand visibility organically. However, marketing consultants warn that although this type of virality can translate into sales peaks, as happened with Nike, it does not always mean a sustainable reputational gain, since the brand is associated with a context foreign to its strategy and without the possibility of directing the conversation.
