Hundreds of feet from the finish line of the 130th Boston Marathon, the Newbury Street Nike store removed an advertisement from their window that read “Runners welcome. Walkers tolerated,” after the message sparked widespread outrage online. 

Tara Johnson of Colorado runs the 2026 Boston Marathon. The Newbury Street Nike Store removed an advertisement in their windows that read “Runners welcome. Walkers tolerated” after receiving backlash. (ADAM STROBEL)

Elizabeth Ropp — a 41-year-old masters runner who qualified for the 2026 Boston Marathon —  shared one of the first posts about the advertisement on April 16, days before the marathon took place. 

In an interview with The Daily Free Press, Ropp said the sign was “divisive” and did not represent the inclusivity of the running community. 

Ropp, an advocate for children with disabilities as a pediatrician and mother of a child with developmental delays, said the sign was put on a “world stage for everyone to see” — not just Boston Marathon participants. 

“I would never want [my son] to see that sign and think he was only tolerated because he didn’t have the ability to go out there and run the entire 26.2 miles, or even run 26.2 miles period,” she said. 

Ropp began running in 2023 after battling postpartum depression and anxiety, and said the sign would have “hindered” her ability to show up “authentically and transparently” at the beginning of her running journey. 

“This kind of mentality of ‘tolerated’ just does not provoke that kind of inspiration, motivation for all these runners to show up from square one,” Ropp said.

Joe LeMar, a paralympic champion and chapter lead for disability inclusion non-profit Achilles Boston, handcycled the Boston Marathon for the first time this year. LeMar wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press that he found it “tough” to see the word “tolerated” used in the advertisement. 

The wording “hit too close to home,” he wrote. As a coach for disabled athletes in Boston, LaMar sees firsthand how much the first step to showing up to a workout takes, he wrote. 

“Every athlete on that course deserves to be celebrated and respected, whether they were pushing up Heartbreak Hill on wheels like me, walking with a crutch or sprinting tethered to a guide,” LeMar wrote. 

Scott Davidson, a professional para runner since 2019 who was born with severe bilateral clubfoot — a birth condition that impacts both of his lower limbs — called the sign “tone deaf.”

Davidson, an ultra runner, said Nike did not consider the variety of athletes that enter the Boston Marathon. He criticized the sign for overlooking Boston Marathon bombing survivors who continue to race with disabilities. 

“We’ve had actual victims that are now amputees coming back, circling back and run-walking it,” Davidson said. “You alienated a big crowd, and you alienated your elite paras that are rolling to the distance.”

Davidson said the advertisement reminded him of the discrimination and lack of inclusivity disabled people face throughout their lives. 

“We got a multibillion dollar company just trashing us because we don’t run to their standards,” he said.

Davidson shared that before the controversy, Nike reached out to him for a collaborative photoshoot, but he felt the brand catered towards a “certain mold” and the advertisement was “out of touch” with the mentality of the running community. 

“They’ve missed out on the idea that a lot of the people that consume their product or take part in these events are everyday people attempting to do extraordinary things,” Davidson said. “And those extraordinary things sometimes take extraordinary measures, like scooting to a finish line.”

In response to Nike’s sign, ASICS — another athletic wear brand — put up a billboard outside Fenway Park the day before the marathon reading, “Runners. Walkers. All welcome.”

Nike apologized for the advertisement, stating it “missed the mark” in a statement provided to Runner’s World. By Marathon Monday, the message was replaced with, “Boston will always remind you, movement is what matters.”

BU medical student Grace Johnson, a student leader in Boston University’s Disability Advocacy Group — whose mission is to integrate disability justice into BU’s medical curriculum — urged brands like Nike to increase the inclusion of disabled individuals and experts in decision-making processes to prevent such incidents from happening in the future.

“I think if someone with a disability had seen the ad before it went out, maybe they would have had a conversation and decided not to put it out there,” Johnson said. 

Johnson said Nike can use its platform to improve disability awareness, and she appreciated Nike’s quick response and their use of the controversy as a “learning opportunity.” 

Ropp said the message Nike should take away from this is “words matter and discernment matters.” 

“At the end of the day, if we’re showing up for ourselves, then we are doing exactly what we need to be doing and it’s worth celebrating,” she said.

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