Would you look at that?!
What are those scamps in Nike's marketing department up to now? Ah, to be young and irresponsible again. And worth billions of dollars. And have lawyers on tap.
Silent thanks to Defective Yeti for the heads up.
And an UPDATE even before I've posted: BoingBoing announced that Nike has apologized for plundering part of the skater/punk subculture in an attempt to make lots and lots of money. But not in those words.
"This was a poor judgment call and should not have been executed without consulting Minor Threat and Dischord Records."
Seriously? Ask permission to use someone else's design idea? It's not like you could have possibly thought it wouldn't be noticed. You're Nike for god's sake, not Bill's Pump & Split in Podunk, Nowhere.
It feels to me like the decision by Nike to attempt this campaign is an example of the phrase, "It is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission." It may be the cynic in me (get OUT of me you wee bastard and stop stomping on my spleen!), but I am quite sure they knew going in to this that they wouldn't get permission from Dischord to use their cover design to sell Nike's merchandise so some bright young executive figured they would "borrow" it, change it up a bit and if there was any noise from Dichord (heh) about it they would then apologize. End result, even if they are sued by Dischord and have to pay out damages, they've still associated themselves with the image AND gotten a lot of publicity about it as well.
Nike: Just steal it.
Silent thanks to Defective Yeti for the heads up.
And an UPDATE even before I've posted: BoingBoing announced that Nike has apologized for plundering part of the skater/punk subculture in an attempt to make lots and lots of money. But not in those words.
"This was a poor judgment call and should not have been executed without consulting Minor Threat and Dischord Records."
Seriously? Ask permission to use someone else's design idea? It's not like you could have possibly thought it wouldn't be noticed. You're Nike for god's sake, not Bill's Pump & Split in Podunk, Nowhere.
It feels to me like the decision by Nike to attempt this campaign is an example of the phrase, "It is easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission." It may be the cynic in me (get OUT of me you wee bastard and stop stomping on my spleen!), but I am quite sure they knew going in to this that they wouldn't get permission from Dischord to use their cover design to sell Nike's merchandise so some bright young executive figured they would "borrow" it, change it up a bit and if there was any noise from Dichord (heh) about it they would then apologize. End result, even if they are sued by Dischord and have to pay out damages, they've still associated themselves with the image AND gotten a lot of publicity about it as well.
Nike: Just steal it.
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