Diana Griego Erwin: Nike -- 'Sweatshop' order not funny
Freedom. Individuality. Innovation. It's a dog-eat-dog world on the edge of hip. Just ask Nike.
Or take in an e-mail exchange between the global corporation and a brainy, smart-aleck college student originally from Oakland. That would be Jonah Peretti, an MIT graduate student who ordered shoes through "Nike iD," a program that lets customers personalize products with a word or phrase of their choice stitched under the Nike Swoosh.
Having vaguely followed news about labor actions against Nike, Peretti, 27, ordered shoes with the word "sweatshop" added. Nike was not amused.
From: Personalize, NIKE iD To: Jonah Peretti Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order.
Your NIKE iD order was canceled 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 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 party's trademark, 2) the name of an athlete, 3) blank, or 4) a profanity. I choose the iD because I wanted to remember the toil and labor of the children (who) made my shoes. Could you please ship them immediately?
Jonah Peretti
From: Personalize, NIKE iD To: Jonah H. Peretti
Dear NIKE iD Customer,
Your NIKE iD order was canceled because the iD you have chosen contains ... "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
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, 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 e-mail.
Your Web site advertises that the NIKE iD program is "about freedom to choose and freedom to express who you are." ... The site also says that "If you want it done right ... build it yourself." ... 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.
Nike didn't reconsider. (Nike's response to sweatshop allegations online at nikebiz.com/labor/ is voluminous and interesting.) Needing to get back to his master's thesis, Peretti finally changed the wording on his order, adding one small request. "Could you please send me a color snapshot of the 10-year-old Vietnamese girl who makes my shoes?"