Love Thy Sweatshop
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 canceled the order.
Via a form e-mail Peretti was informed that his order had been 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."
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 canceled 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.
MIKE ALEWITZ
LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT
Department of Art
Central Connecticut State University
1615 Stanley Street
New Britain, CT 06050
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