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Nike now lets you personalize your
shoes by submitting a word or phrase which they will stitch onto your shoes,
under the swoosh. So Jonah Peretti filled out the form and sent them $50 to
stitch "sweatshop" onto his shoes.
Here are the responses he got... fun
and games with Nike...
From: "Personalize, NIKE iD"
-nikeid_personalize@nike.com
To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'
Subject: RE: Your
NIKE iD order o16468000
Your NIKE iD order was cancelled for one or
more of the following reasons:
1) Your Personal iD contains another party's
trademark or other intellectual property
2) Your Personal iD contains the
name of an athlete or team we do not have the legal right to use
3) Your
Personal iD was left blank. Did you not want any personalization?
4) Your
Personal iD contains profanity or inappropriate slang, and besides, your mother
would slap us.
If you wish to reorder your NIKE iD product with a new
personalization please visit us again at www.nike.com
Thank you, NIKE iD
From: "Jonah H. Peretti"
To: "Personalize, NIKE iD"
-nikeid_personalize@nike.com
Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000
Greetings, My order was canceled but my personal NIKE iD does not
violate any of the criteria outlined in your message. The Personal iD on my
custom ZOOM XC USA running shoes was the word "sweatshop." Sweatshop is not:
1)another's party's trademark,
2)the name of an athlete,
3)blank,
or
4)profanity.
I choose the iD because I wanted to remember the toil
and labor of the children that made my shoes. Could you please ship them to me
immediately. Thanks and Happy New Year, Jonah Peretti
From:
"Personalize, NIKE iD" -nikeid_personalize@nike.com
To: "'Jonah H.
Peretti'"
Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000
Dear NIKE iD
Customer, Your NIKE iD order was cancelled because the iD you have chosen
contains, as stated in the previous e-mail correspondence, "inappropriate
slang". If you wish to reorder your NIKE iD product with a new personalization
please visit us again at nike.com
Thank you, NIKE iD
From:
"Jonah H. Peretti"
To: "Personalize, NIKE iD" nikeid_personalize@nike.com
Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000
Dear NIKE iD, Thank you
for your quick response to my inquiry about my custom ZOOM XC USA running
shoes. Although I commend you for your prompt customer service, I disagree with
the claim that my personal iD was inappropriate slang. After consulting
Webster's Dictionary, I discovered that "sweatshop" is in fact part of standard
English, and not slang. The word means: "a shop or factory in which workers are
employed for long hours at low wages and under unhealthy conditions" and its
origin dates from 1892. So my personal iD does meet the criteria detailed in
your first email.
Your web site advertises that the NIKE iD program is
"about freedom to choose and freedom to express who you are." I share Nike's
love of freedom and personal expression. The site also says that "If you want
it done right...build it yourself." I was thrilled to be able to build my own
shoes, and my personal iD was offered as a small token of appreciation for the
sweatshop workers poised to help me realize my vision. I hope that you will
value my freedom of expression and reconsider your decision to reject my order.
Thank you, Jonah Peretti
From: "Personalize, NIKE iD"
nikeid_personalize@nike.com
To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'"
Subject: RE: Your
NIKE iD order o16468000
Dear NIKE iD Customer,
Regarding the rules
for personalization it also states on the NIKE iD website that "Nike reserves
the right to cancel any personal iD up to 24 hours after it has been
submitted". In addition, it further explains: "While we honor most personal
iDs, we cannot honor every one. Some may be (or contain) other's trademarks, or
the names of certain professional sports teams, athletes or celebrities that
Nike does not have the right to use. Others may contain material that we
consider inappropriate or simply do not want to place on our products.
Unfortunately, at times this obliges us to decline personal iDs that may
otherwise seem unobjectionable. In any event, we will let you know if we
decline your personal iD, and we will offer you the chance to submit another."
With these rules in mind, we cannot accept your order as submitted. If you wish
to reorder your NIKE iD product with a new personalization please visit us
again at www.nike.com
Thank you, NIKE iD
From: "Jonah H. Peretti"
To: "Personalize, NIKE iD" nikeid_personalize@nike.com
Subject: RE:
Your NIKE iD order o16468000
Dear NIKE iD,
Thank you for the time
and energy you have spent on my request. I have decided to order the shoes with
a different iD, but I would like to make one small request. Could you please
send me a color snapshot of the ten-year-old Vietnamese girl who makes my
shoes?
Thanks, Jonah Peretti
[no response]
As one forwarder
writes: ...
this will now go round the world much farther and faster than
any of the adverts they paid Michael Jordan more than the entire wage packet of
all their sweatshop workers in the world to do...
I normally avoid making a
plea to pass on these things, but this time I say: JUST DO IT
Erica
Gabrielle Foldy Ph.D. Candidate
Organization Studies
Boston College
Research Associate
Center for Gender in Organizations
Simmons
Graduate School of Management
www.simmons.edu/gsm/cgo
foldy@bc.edu |
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