Maybe my reaction to these Tshirts AND to Boston mayor, Thomas Menino's comments about them is yet another indicator that I am getting old. Nike has a store in Boston, and in the window of that store, are some Tshirts with messages like "Get High", and other pro recreational drug slogans. Oh well........I've been there, done that...not going back, at least not today. And those are not messages I would wear on my clothing, either. But at the same time, America has the First Amendment, which grants anyone the right to wear a Tshirt with the words, "Get High" on it just as much as it grants anyone the right to wear a baseball cap with the words, "Pabst Blue Ribbon" on it. If alcohol is a drug, as per the most current, politically correct psycho-babble, I can only conclude that they both send the same message. How this helps Nike in it's original quest to sell ATHLETIC shoes and gear, only the shadow knows......but they do not have to take the Tshirts out of the window unless they want to.
Here is Nike's response to the whole thing:
In a statement to CNN, Nike said: "These t-shirts are part of an action sports campaign, featuring marquee athletes using commonly used and accepted expressions for performance at the highest level of their sport, be it surfing, skateboarding or BMX. Nike does not condone the use of banned or illegal substances."
Now; if my healthy, growing, and appropriately rebellious and authority-questioning kids lived in Boston, they would probably, at their earliest convience, make a trip over to the Nike store to buy these goofy Tshirts, after hearing their mayor whine about them. Knowing that an authority figure hates something makes it all the more attractive to young people, so Mayor Menino probably saved these Tshirts from an early trip to the clearance rack. Maybe he owns stock in Nike, who knows? But seriously......the messages on these shirts are just the product of an artistic dry spell somewhere in Nike's idea box, and are also kind of ugly. They were destined for the clearance rack, anyway. Why flip out over them, and create a counter reaction?
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Here is Nike's response to the whole thing:
In a statement to CNN, Nike said: "These t-shirts are part of an action sports campaign, featuring marquee athletes using commonly used and accepted expressions for performance at the highest level of their sport, be it surfing, skateboarding or BMX. Nike does not condone the use of banned or illegal substances."
Now; if my healthy, growing, and appropriately rebellious and authority-questioning kids lived in Boston, they would probably, at their earliest convience, make a trip over to the Nike store to buy these goofy Tshirts, after hearing their mayor whine about them. Knowing that an authority figure hates something makes it all the more attractive to young people, so Mayor Menino probably saved these Tshirts from an early trip to the clearance rack. Maybe he owns stock in Nike, who knows? But seriously......the messages on these shirts are just the product of an artistic dry spell somewhere in Nike's idea box, and are also kind of ugly. They were destined for the clearance rack, anyway. Why flip out over them, and create a counter reaction?
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