The first mistake Nike made in the viral video mess that is LeBron-gate was trying to hide something from Gary Parrish. If you dropped Parrish in the middle of Afghanistan he'd emerge with Osama bin Laden's carcass in one hand, the details of John Calipari's new contract in the other, and a cell phone secured between his teeth.
Nice work, Nike. Who did you think you were trying to fool, anyway? ESPN?
|
|
| As LeBron and Nike learned, the shoe giant isn't immune from being seen as another corporation without a sole, er, soul. (Getty Images) |
It underestimated the angry mood of the country toward arrogant, mega-corporations who think they can do what they want, when they want.
Nike believes that because it runs cute commercials and pals around with handsome athletes, it's no different from a sniveling credit card company or predatory bank.
To many people, Nike is the sports equivalent of those entities. By confiscating video of LeBron James getting his muscled-up head dunked on and subsequently acting like the release of the video is a threat to national security, the company confirmed what many have long believed: Nike is a ruthless corporation no different from other cutthroat companies.
Nike has, after all, been repeatedly accused of running sweatshops. More on that in a moment.
• Parrish: Tape under wraps | Policy?
There's something about James and Nike that makes this story more stringent than it ordinarily would be. There wouldn't be as much outrage if there were video of Dwyane Wade or Kobe Bryant getting dunked on. There'd be interest, of course, but James is the most arrogant and guarded superstar in the NBA and Nike is the most arrogant and guarded company in sports. That combination has turned this story from pedestrian to interesting and, until Nike releases the video, it'll stay that way.
It's Nike's corporate-ness which is at the center of this entire fiasco. It's not just the public enjoying watching a giant company feel the pain of stepping on the wrong end of a rake. No rational human being would ever be this angry over a simple dunk video. This isn't about the dunk. This is about rage over the actions of the wealthy and powerful.
There is connective tissue between the wages of CEOs, large unemployment, the ruthlessness of banks, the despicable practices of credit card companies and the arrogance of a shoe empire long accused of a glossy image while secretly being as nasty as a sub-prime lender.
This isn't the 1980s. Greed is no longer good. Greed is bad. Greed sucks.
• Re-enactment | B/R: Interview with the cameraman
Nike didn't exactly help its star client, either. By confiscating the video it made James look like not just a punk but a rich, spoiled punk.
Then Nike made things worse by saying the confiscated video had nothing to do with the dunk. Sure it didn't.
Surrrre.
All Nike had to do was make a joke out of the entire thing. Hell, it could've sold the video on the Internet. It might have outsold the impending Michael Jackson rehearsal video from the night before his death.
(If you don't think that video will soon be available for sale at the low price of $29.99, you're not thinking straight.)
Part of the anger and outrage generated at Nike has been building for some time and the video served as a sort of release mechanism. The company -- with the backing of high-powered house men like Michael Jordan -- has long jacked up its shoe prices while paying pennies to have them made overseas.
Nike has been accused of predatory and slave labor in some of the poorest parts of the world. The company has staunchly denied this.
The irony -- in some ways the sad irony -- is that it has taken a stupid Zapruder film to make Nike feel some sort of comeuppance. A silly dunk seems to have drawn more attention to Nike than its past alleged questionable labor practices.
Nike has always been exceptionally polished at public relations, which is why James will temporarily swallow his super-sized ego and the video will be released. James might be diabolically egotistical, but he's no dummy. Neither is Nike.
James and Nike might as well get it over with because it's only a matter of time before Parrish snags the video and runs it on his blog.
