JC Vogt

Art of Activism
Andrew Martin
Monday, March 13, 2017

Nike and the Sweatshops

JC Vogt

Sweatshops, or factories in which manual workers are employed to do heavy

amounts of work for very low wages, were first seen in the 1830s when managers were

hired in order to direct the process of clothing production under arduous conditions.

While these workplaces are highly controversial, sweatshops are still a common practice

used by large corporations in order to fulfill the high demand for their products. Nike,

the infamous sportswear company that sells more than 900 million items a year, has

faced backlash related to accusations around their sweatshop usage, and while the

company originally denied these statements, the companys director Todd McKean

responded in a 2001 interview that they dont own the factories, and as a result, cant

control what goes on inside. As a result, several protests and boycotts have since taken

place, including one in 2005 where students of over 40 different universities insisted

that their colleges only support companies that dont rely on sweatshops to produce

their products. While Nike has since implemented programs to monitor the treatment of

employees at their factories, suspicious still remains about whether or not the company

is actually striving to improve.

One social experiment in the early 2000s led a man to design his own shoes that

essentially protested Nikes own labor practices. Using Nikes NikeID feature, which

allows customers the freedom to customize colors and fabrics of different shoe models,
as well as add text to the heal, Jonah Peretti requested the words sweatshop to be

written on his shoes. The ironic request was immediately denied before a thread of

heated emails between a Nike employee and the customer discussed the reasoning of the

cancelation. According to Nike, the order featured inappropriate slang, and as a result,

the request was subject to the companys policy allowing them to cancel any order that

isnt deemed fit for production. While the word is neither slang, nor does it go against

any of the companys other policies regarding shoe customization, the company decided

to cancel the order, a decision that seems to suggest their understanding of some

wrongdoing.

The impact of this experiment was substantial, suggesting that its execution was

very well done. The email thread was sent around to a few of Perettis friends, and

shortly after, the messages had spread to millions of viewers worldwide. Thousands of

emails, most of which were in favor of Perettis project, flooded into his inbox, and soon,

the experiment had become a meme. Overall, the immediacy of the response to the

seemingly simple customization order and the emails that followed proved that the

confrontational tactic was more effective than planned, and the stunt continues to

question of morality to the operations of our favorite companies.

http://depts.washington.edu/ccce/polcommcampaigns/peretti.html

http://www.businessinsider.com/12-crazy-facts-you-probably-didnt-know-about-nike-

2016-3

https://csrinclothing.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/nikes-sweatshop-problem-just-dont-

do-it/

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2004-09-19/online-extra-nikes-new-game-

plan-for-sweatshops

http://www.shey.net/niked.html