Knowing the Strength of Your Buying Power :: Nike Public Relations Retail Media Essays

Knowing the Strength of Your Buying Power Reliable news sources have publicly exposed the grim working conditions of people employed by contractors making Nike products in Indonesia, Haiti and Vietnam. Nike’s association with the exploitation of third world workers has fueled a worldwide boycott on their products. Positive public relations are very important to Nike, who has positioned themselves through expensive advertising campaigns as a very strong competitor in the market of athletic shoes. Those running Nike are very aware that any negative association with the company’s name will be detrimental to its success. Nike’s name has become synonymous with the successful slogan â€Å"just do it.† Their association with sweatshops is contradictory and ruinous to their self promoted image as the champions of personal achievement. Nike must maintain a positive public image in order to continue to seduce consumers into choosing them over the competitor. So, when enough people were paying attention to Nike’s unscrupulous business practices, Nike was pushed to respond. Through the boycott, concerned consumers were able to get Nike to acknowledge and address the inhumane conditions at the factories they subcontract work to. Although there has not yet been complete resolve with Nike, concerned consumers have shown their power to be heard. Through consumer action we can create positive changes personally and politically. Many publications -- the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Sydney Morning Herald, Life Magazine -- have reported on the unjust treatment of workers making Nike products. There are reports of children sewing soccer balls for 60 cents a day, workers being beaten, sexually harassed, collapsing from exhaustion, being fired on the account of taking sick leave, working in hazardous conditions, being paid below a livable wage and the list goes on. This kind of flagrant exploitation is illegal in America. We have created laws to protect the unempowered worker from being taken advantage of by the empowered boss. On American soil, we are forced by the law to conduct business with a certain amount of moral decency and through these enforced labor laws we have developed a social understanding and agreement on humane treatment in business. But, because American workers have restricted overtime hours and a higher living wage then those in third world countries, manufacturing goods here is more costly. So, to increase profit margins, many U.