Foot in Mouth
Smart Business, June 2001
by Thomas Claburn
In promoting its Nike iD program, through which online customers can order shoes with custom messages, the world's leading shoe company promised more than it was prepared to deliver. Its Web site says, "At Nike iD, you get to participate in the design of your own Nike products. It's about freedom to choose and freedom to express who you are."
Except it's not—it's about selling shoes and burnishing the Nike brand. MIT grad student Jonah H. Peretti put Nike's rhetoric to the test by ordering shoes bearing the word "Sweatshop," a reference to ongoing criticism of the company's labor practices. Nike declined his order via e-mail, citing four possible reasons, including possible trademark violations and profanity. In his reply, Peretti questioned the company's canned refusal, saying, " 'Sweatshop' is not another party's trademark, the name of an athlete . . . or profanity. I chose the iD because I wanted to remember the toil and labor of the children that made my shoes."
As the correspondence continued, Nike fell back on its right to refuse service, and the story was lapped up by the press.
"We rejected it because it's false and defamatory and we won't allow something like that on our product," says Nike.com public relations manager Beth Gorny. "And in truth we don't apologize for that." She adds that while the company has gotten many messages regarding the incident, at least 25 percent have been from customers interested in buying Nike iD products.
Perhaps there isn't such a thing as bad publicity.
