A man in the US has fooled people into believing he ordered 6500 pairs of Nike shoes only to have them delivered to a dump.
Pro gamer and podcaster Stefan Heck posted screenshots of the transaction to Twitter, saying: "F**k you Nike! I just ordered 6,500 pairs of your shoes and I'm getting them sent directly to the local dump! Suck my d**k! #America #Freedom."
Nike has put itself at the centre of the United States' 'take a knee' controversy, using former NFL star Colin Kaepernick in its latest advertising campaign. President Donald Trump has been one of Kaepernick's loudest critics, saying players should stand for the anthem and the league should ban protest.
The controversy has seen sports fans and supporters of the President burning their Nike gear.
When other Twitter users pointed out Heck hadn't completed his enormous order, Heck posted a screenshot of what appeared to be a confirmation email from the sports clothing brand "for the haters".
The shoes he chose were Nike Air VaporMax 97s, worth US$190 each (NZ$290).
Many among the thousands who replied and shared the tweets were fooled.
"Dumbest method ever to show distaste for an ad campaign: buy a bunch of the product to which you object," said New York Post sports writer Drew Loftis.
"This guy is the grandfather of all morons," said @high_t1de. "Nike has their money now. They don't care what this idiot does with the shoes he ordered."
In an article for sports-oriented news site Deadspin, Heck said he thought it was an "obvious parody of the numerous MAGA dips**ts burning their Monarch IVs in backyard fire-pits", and didn't expect "millions of atrocious replies from people named things like @Resistance_Deborah57, @Resistance_Deborah62, and @Resistance_Karen".
MAGA refers to 'Make America Great Again', the US President's campaign slogan.
"If you aren't familiar with how Twitter works, each morning, somebody posts something stupid. The rest of Twitter takes turns pummeling this person into submission," Heck explained.
"Unfortunately in this case, the thing people were mad about was a joke. It wasn't real. It never happened."
He went on to say it was a lesson for people who fail to "take five seconds to determine if something is a joke before getting all self-righteous" and people should have to take a test before being allowed on the internet.
"Feel free to quote-tweet that."
Nike's sales since the Kaepernick campaign launched have reportedly gone up, despite the MAGA boycott.
Newshub.
