EXPRESS OURSELVES

[ricardo dominguez <rdom@thing.net>]

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                         EXPRESS OURSELVES

                         Then again, it isn't always about making
                         money -- sometimes it's about protecting the
                         brand from crazed postmodernists.

                         Shey.net features an e-mail exchange
                         between Nike customer Jonah Peretti and
                         Nike customer service representatives at
                         Nike iD, an online service that lets people
                         personalize their Nike purchases.

                         When Peretti ordered a pair of sneakers to
                         be customized with the word "sweatshop," Nike promptly
                         cancelled the order.

                         Via a form e-mail Peretti was informed that his order had been
                         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."

                         Peretti replied, pointing out that his order did not violate any of
                         the criteria given.

                         "I chose 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?"

                         Nike iD -- despite its flagrant use of inappropriate
                         capitalization -- responded by saying that the order had been
                         cancelled because it contained "inappropriate slang."

                         Peretti then pointed out that "after consulting Webster's
                         Dictionary," he "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,'" he explained, "and its origin dates from 1892."

                         Peretti also reminded Nike iD that its Web site states that
                         Nike-brand shoe personalization is all about "freedom to
                         choose and freedom to express who you are."

                         "I was thrilled to be able to build my own shoes," wrote Peretti,
                         "and my personal iD was offered as a small token of
                         appreciation for the sweatshop workers poised to help me
                         realize my vision."

                         Unwilling to be toyed with, Nike iD retorted, "The rules for
                         personalization also state that 'Nike reserves the right to cancel
                         any Personal iD up to 24 hours after it has been submitted,'"
                         and further hinted that Peretti's request might have been denied
                         because it contained "material that we consider inappropriate
                         or simply do not want to place on our products."

                         Peretti again responded stating that he had decided to order
                         the shoes with a different message, with one small request.

                         "Could you please send me a color snapshot of the
                         ten-year-old Vietnamese girl who makes my shoes?"

                         His request went unanswered.

http://www.salon.com/people/cheapshots/2001/02/08/artsfund/index2.html



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