Two Letters to Off Our Backs (OOB) about Nike by Nikki Craft

7/24/93

The Nike TV ad began with a woman taking her shirt off, getting ready to take a shower. She thinks she hears something, so she opens the door. On the other side of the door is a man with a hockey goalie mask on, with a running chain saw in his hand. She screams and runs out the door (wearing only a bra on the top half of her body and her regular clothes on the bottom half) and into the woods (her back yard?), with the man and his chain saw in hot pursuit. The man eventually tires, goes down to the ground on his knees, puts down the chain saw, and takes off his mask. This is when the only words come on the screen: "Why Sport? You"ll Live Longer." And then the Nike slogan "Just Do It" appear on screen, along with the Nike "swoosh". That's it. No words are spoken. No words need to be spoken. I don't want my male children to grow up thinking that chasing a woman with a chain saw makes you "live longer", so "Just Do It." I don't want any male children to grow up thinking that chasing a woman with a chain saw makes you "live longer", so "Just Do It."

A Nike spokesperson had the nerve to justify the ad by saying "the runner (Suzy Hamilton) enjoyed making the ad." As if being paid to run in a commercial justifies its content.
Thanks to Media Watch Alerts

Dear Editor,
A few years ago I had gladly stopped buying all the other brands of running shoes to support the approach that Nike began using with its womanist "Just Do It" advertising campaign. Then, several weeks ago, I saw a television exposé that documented Nike
gets 100 some-odd dollars for one pair of shoes that only costs $5.95 to make. It revealed that Nike exploits workers in Indonesia, China, Thailand and Malaysia. Nike hurts workers here, too, since they moved all their manufacturing out of the US before 1984. In the exposé, obviously liberal Nike managers wiped sweat from their brows when it became obvious the reporters would not swallow the disinformation they attempted to pass off as reality, and then the ignorance they attempted to hide behind. Sure, it's easy to believe these white-boy Clinton types didn't know the horrid conditions their female workers were living under right outside the barbed wire prisons of the corporate "free" zones.

Nike is spending lots of money to convince us to like them and to buy their shoes. They paid Michael Jordan $20 million to do a single Nike ad. If they had taken that 20 million and divided it among all their workers in Indonesian plants, their employees could all be jogged above the mean poverty level. All we'd have been spared was that one Nike ad.

Today in the mail I got Nike's "Women's Source Book". Aimed at the modern woman, it's 46 color pages of Nike products were printed on slick, thick, recycled paper. The catalog warns women against repetition: "Doing the same activity over and over can become a real bore." When I saw that bourgeois white woman, stretching down to tie her laces, I thought of the women I saw on TV, many very young, enslaved by Nike, spending hours bent over, stitching those shoes--and thousands more. Many suffer from loss of eyesight, chronic back pain, a life of poverty and, yes, repetitive stress disorder.

I've ripped up that Nike catalog and sent it back in their wrapping so they pay the return postage. Furthermore, I'm never going to buy another pair of Nike's "dirty sneakers" again and will encourage other women to boycott them, too. It's a very worthwhile tactic, but I don't have the financial resources to mail all my old shoes back to them. Instead, I'm marking through the Nike label on the shoes that I already have, and telling anybody and everybody why I'd choose to deface my own property. As it is with most corporations, knowing what I now know about Nike, I'd be ashamed to be seen wearing their products.

We, myself included, have to get --and stay--wise to this. Nike's promotional policies and employment practices are not that far removed from other trans-national corporations, and we are going to be seeing a lot more of it if the North American Free Trade Agreement is enacted.

Nike, and other corporations, have a lot of work to do if they are to become truly egalitarian beyond the hip-hype they portray on TV; and it's time for us to tell them to JUST DO IT. Fucking over our sisters in other parts of the world is not pro-woman, and it certainly isn't feminism. As feminists, our vision must be more encompassing and our political analysis much less superficial than to be persuaded to feel fondly towards a corporation just because its public relation efforts makes a greed motivated monster appear friendly and non-sexist. 

In global sisterhood,
Nikki Craft

P.S. Please run Nike's address so women can have the opportunity to send their old shoes, letters, ripped up Nike catalogs -- whatever -- to: Philip Knight, Nike, 1 Bowerman Drive, Beaverton, OR 97005. Or call Nike at 1-800-FIT-IS-IT.


Dear oob editor: I am very grateful to oob for the work you do and appreciate tremendously the amount of my work that you choose to include in your newspaper. I know it's impossible to do what you do without making mistakes, several of which were made with the editing of the my letter as published in the Aug/Sept 1993 issue.

First, I would like to say it was no small miracle the letter was printed in the first place. It was way too long. Also, it was FAXed during final layout and someone took the trouble to pick it up at another location and even paid for it! That it was so much into the eleventh hour may explain some of what happened in the editing process, too.

The first three paragraphs were hacked off, the letter opening with, "I've ripped up that Nike catalog. . ." What Nike catalog?! Such an insensitive editing brings it out of the blue. The portion that was left out included imagery that I wanted very much for women to take away with them after reading the letter. The part about the woman bent over her sewing machine juxtaposed to the woman tying her shoe was the more important part of the letter to me. I also hated the en vogue Doc Marten boot used as an the illustration; and the cutsie slogan, "Give Nikke a hand, give Nike the boot," and "Nikki Nixes Nike," trivialized what I was saying. I'm not sure that whoever made the editorial and headline decisions understands what I was trying to say or accomplish with the letter. Even though I know they were well intentioned and sweetly affectionate, they inadvertently worked against the content of the letter.

As always, women read oob. That's why I LOVE to have my stuff here. Unfortunately, this time I am embarrassed rather than proud. One woman said I sounded naive, one woman, probably since I often submit graphics, too, asked why I put a boot with a letter about Nike, and one said the letter didn't make any sense. It didn't. I hope you will consider reprinting my letter in full in your next issue along with this one.

All my best,
Nikki

Off Our Backs did run both letters in full with an apology.


Thursday, 22 February 2001 14:11 (ET)

Report: Workers sexually abused in Nike factories

BALTIMORE, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- Workers is nine Indonesian Nike factories said they were sexually, physically and verbally abused by supervisors, a report by a workers' rights group Global Alliance said Thursday.

The study, "Workers' Voices: An Interim Report on Workers' Needs and Aspirations in Nine Nike Contract Factories in Indonesia," was the result of an intensive interviewing and focus group process involving more than 4,450 workers at nine Nike contract factories, the Global Alliance for Workers and Communities said. No comparative research was done, however, on working conditions in independent Indonesian factories.

Global Alliance's study was conducted in joint cooperation and paid for by the Oregon-based Nike, whose Asian workplace record has been the subject of numerous controversies and complaints.

"This is a significant first step toward improving the lives and prospects of tens of thousands of workers in Indonesia," said Rick Little, chairman of the Global Alliance's operating council. "With this report, we have deepened our understanding of the everyday lives of these workers, both in terms of their aspirations for the future, and some very real concerns in the workplace including harassment and health issues."

The report said workers in all nine factories reported experiencing or observing various forms of harassment and abuse. Verbal abuse, such as swearing or yelling, was the most frequently reported complaint, with 30 percent of respondents reporting personally experiencing such abuse.

Nearly 8 percent of workers reported receiving unwanted sexual comments and nearly 2.5 percent said they have received unwanted sexual touching, the report said.

Global Alliance said that workers' reports of physical abuse from a line supervisor or manager, such as throwing objects, hitting, pushing, or shoving, ranged from a low of one percent in one factory to almost 14 percent in another. Workers also reported incidents of sexual favors for employment practices at two factories.

"The Global Alliance report raised some disturbing issues about the workplaces in Indonesia where some Nike products are made. No worker should be subject to some of the working conditions reported in this assessment," said Dusty Kidd, Nike's vice president for corporate responsibility, in a statement. "Our remediation plan is designed to address each issue head on, working collaboratively with our factory partners and the Global Alliance to ensure its implementation."

The Global Alliance issued its first report last year, wherein the group examined workplace conditions in Thailand and Vietnam. The report was criticized by various labor groups for not sufficiently concentrating on violations and alleged abuses.

An official of the International Labor Rights Fund criticized the Global Alliance group saying that the organization had no leverage to make Nike implement changes and were not an independent monitoring organization.

"Why not invite the local NGO's (non-governmental organizations) trained in monitoring to come in and do a code of conduct investigation," Bama Athreya, an ILRF official, told the Asian Wall Street Journal.

A Nike statement said the company would ask for independent verification of the Global Alliance's latest report.

Formed in 1999, the Global Alliance for Workers and Communities is a partnership of private, not-for-profit groups and corporations. Members of the Global Alliance include Nike, Gap, Inc., and the World Bank. The Alliance also receives support from Penn State and St. John's University, as well as private foundations.

Copies of the full Global Alliance's Indonesia report can be obtained from the organization's website at www.theglobalalliance.org.

Nike Links
Nike admits abuse of workers
Working Conditions Of Nike Contract Workers

BACK


Since October 3, 2001