According to Consumer Finance, a U.S. government website, informs that, “companies spend about seventeen billion dollars each year on marketing”(ConsumerFinance).This means that companies are spending billions of dollars on billboards, commercials, and ads to get consumer’s attention. Nike alone spends, “a whopping $3 billion on demand creation”(ABC News). Nike is a well-respected shoe company since 1964 that has faced controversy since 1991’s scandal regarding their sweatshops in third world countries. Sweatshops are factories where manual workers are to endure low wages, long hours, and work under poor environmental conditions. Since then, consumers have question Nike’s ethics and truth to their empowerment signature “Just Do It”. Throughout …show more content…
this paper you will read about two individuals, and their thoughts regarding Nike’s image as well with their thoughts on marketing in society. Jonathan Chajet is a corporate identity consultant.
A corporate identity consultant is responsible to create the image of a company/brand. This means that they are in charge on how a consumer may view and feel about a company/brand. For example, Nike is viewed to society as the enhancer to people to go out and “Just Do It”. Chajet finds Nike’s tagline to be inspirational to people and states ‘“what motivates them is “Just Do It”. Just get up and fucking go break a record”(GIG,90). The simple three words don’t necessarily awaken to every consumer, but to the few that do, it gives a motivation to get up and do something extraordinary. Chajet does acknowledge the fact that “ there are charges that the shoes are made in Indonesia and they were paying workers fucking two cents for eight hours of work a day” but “ Companies do things that are incredibly beautiful and also incredibly …show more content…
ugly”(GIG,92). Charlie Kauffman is a respected American writer who spoke out about marketing effects in society today and Nike’s tag line, “Just Do It”, in a previous conference. Kauffman states that the world is very scary now, because now in days people have no voice because they are accepting everything the government or a company wants to provide. He shares that our culture has become based only on marketing ideology. Meaning that every art, film, or book main purpose is to encourage a consumer to buy a product instead of having a further intellectual meaning to it. Kauffman strongly shares the hypocritical tagline of Nike’s “Just Do It” stating that it encourages people to go out and do something in life, something positive, yet they own sweatshops in third world countries. Kauffman states “these are the priest, the therapist, and the dads” (Charlie Kauffman). He states that society is looking at companies like Nike to be role models to society, but the real truth is that they corporations like Nike is only looking for their own benefit. I agree with Kauffman’s statements because of the immense advertisement that multiple companies like Nike creates to cover the ugly truth of their company.
Although, I do acknowledge that to sell and to gain profit from a product some dues must be paid, but should we put economic enhancement in front of moral and humane values? As a product of my generation I am aware of the huge influence that media and marketing is to my generation. For example, the lack of education or point to the film industry now in days has no inspiration or idea. I took two film section the past semesters and was thankfully introduce to film pieces from F. W. Murnua and Sergei Einstein whom were not looking specifically for fame or money, but to put their voices out there and to make the audience think of social issues during the time or of any issue that society was in need to be aware for change to
happen. In sum marketing is part of our society and Nike and other company will still pay those billions of dollars on advertisement. Therefore, society should take precautions before buying a product and question about the need for it. In addition you may want to look furthermore into the manufacture and what they stand for, they might practice methods that you are uncomfortable or disagree with. Although, you should also put in consideration not all companies are corrupt and prioritize the well beings of others than any economic enhancement. Bibliography
Many people in our society today are constantly asking, "Why do sweatshops exist?" The answer to this question is that companies like Nike and Wal-Mart use sweatshops to produce their goods for a much cheaper rate, to reduce the cost of their products. The problem with sweatshops is that the workers are subject to hard work in often times poor conditions for minimal pay. But although many people may condemn sweatshops, there are some advantages that many people overlook when arguing against sweatshops and their practices.
Hoards of people, distracted by catchy advertising and creative logos, fuel the machine that feeds on exploiting human beings. Addidas, Nike, Banana Republic, all just a few of the brand names that encroach on poverty stricken countries and exploit the people there. As a country, society contributes to the oppressi...
"Getting and spending" has eclipsed family, ethnicity, even religion as a defining matrix. That doesn't mean that those other defining systems have disappeared, but that an increasing number of young people around the world will give more of their loyalty to Nike than to creeds of blood, race, or belief. This is not entirely a bad thing, since a lust for upscale branding isn't likely to drive many people to war, but it is, to say the least, far from inspiring.
Nike publicizes itself as one of the leading industries in corporate responsibility. However, they do not comply with several human rights obligations overseas in countries like Thailand, Pakistan, China, Vietnam and Indonesia. In these countries, production facilities called sweatshops have been running for almost 35 years employing workers as young as 13 years of age. The conditions of these factories are adverse to say the least and deprive workers of the moral human rights they should be entitled to. Sweatshops are unethical, immoral and demonstrate Nike’s ignorance towards their social responsibilities abroad. Within these facilities, workers endure stressfully long days under undesirable conditions, often with no breaks and very little pay. While this is going on overseas, sponsored athletes are being paid million dollar salaries here in North America. Although Nike’s reputation has been foiled through the tabloids regarding this issue, they have been making a substantial effort to “clean up” production messes in the East.
Nike’s goal is to remain unique and different from others in terms of the items offered on the market. Arguably, Nike belongs to a monopolistically competitive market as there only a few organizations with the ability to regulate the amount charged for their product which means they cannot make their prices high as this is likely to make customers move on to other available choices (Nike, Inc., 2012). However, Nike can find a balance between the prices to charge for their products and remaining competitive with other companies in the industry. Nike has formed a distinction between the appearance and performance of their footwear and that of their competitors. Although products are differentiated from other companies, they still influence each other because they are items of the same
There are about seven billion people in the world. Individuality distinguishes everyone from other people. However, with the development of commerce, advertisement for products which becomes much widespread are influencing people’s individuality. Some advertised products which are designed for normal consumers decrease people’s individuality. Meanwhile, some other products that have been advertised to those at a very high social level make them more of individuality.
Nike’s sweatshop manufacturing practices which can be seen through media have shown people that this company goes under the good guys images, these images which are displayed in their commercials show people that their employees are treated well and their happy in their working environment.
...rible situations for people who do not have the laws like U.S. workers have. Even though NIKE has implemented different methods to improve the companies’ image, there have still been many reports that show there has not been much change at all. At a net worth of 67 billion dollars and expected to grow, loyal customers is what allows this multi billion dollar company to grow in profit, the only way there will be an impact on those working in NIKE sweatshops is if today’s society takes action.
Nike Incorporated is the number one leading sportswear and equipment provider in the world. They manufacture anything from casual clothes to sports equipment, shoes to socks, and basketballs to golf balls. As a result of its massive success, Nike employs nearly 30,000 people worldwide while manufacturing in 700 shops around the globe and has 45 offices outside the United States. Its extensive reach into the global market has Nike producing more exclusive products than any other manufacturer in the world. Nike’s headquarters is located in the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon.
In June of 1996, Life magazine published a article about Nike’s child labor that was occurring in Pakistan. The article showed a little boy who was surrounded by pieces of Nike sports gear. The articles were shoes and soccer balls. Nike then knew then that they had to make some major changes in the way they were producing their items.
Many global companies like Nike, Inc. are seen as role models both in the market place as well as in society in large. That is why they are expected to act responsibly in their dealings with humanity and the natural world. Nike benefits from the global sourcing opportunities, therefore areas such as production and logistics have been outsourced to partner companies in low-wage countries like China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. As a result the company is limited nowadays to its core competencies of Design and Marketing.
Phil Knight started his shoe company by selling shoes from the back of his car. As he became more successful in 1972 he branded the name Nike. In the 1980’s Nike Corporation quickly grew and established itself as a world leader in manufacturing and distributing athletic footwear and sports' attire. The Nike manufacturing model has followed is to outsource its manufacturing to developing nations in the Asia Pacific, Africa, South and Latin Americas; where labor is inexpensive. It quickly became known for its iconic “swoosh” and “Just do it” advertisements and products. Its highly successful advertising campaigns and brand developed its strong market share and consumer base. But, the road has not always been easy for Nike; in the late 1990’s they went through some challenging times when their brand become synonymous with slave wages and child labor abuses. During this period, Nike learned that it paramount that the company understands its stakeholders’ opinions and ensures their values are congruent with their stakeholders. Nike learned that their stakeholders were concerned with more than buying low cost products; their customers were also concerned with ethical and fair treatment of their workers. Because Nike was unwilling to face the ethical treatment of its employees, the company lost its loyal customers and damaged its reputation. Nike has bounced back since the late 1990’s and revived its reputation by focusing on its internal shortfalls and attacking its issues head on. Nike nearly collapsed from its missteps in the late 1990’s. They have learned from their mistakes and taken steps to quickly identify ethical issues before they become a crisis through ethics audits. This paper is based on the case study of Nike: From Sweatsh...
As we can see in the essay, “The Noble Feat of Nike” by Johan Norberg, the globalization of companies like Nike isn’t all bad. There is some positive light to it, for example, the fact that workers are finally making enough money to live a decent life and send their children to school. In addition to this, workers are guaranteed jobs and don’t have to endure the tough labor of working on farms in the harsh weather conditions. So from these effects we can conclude that the globalization of Nike in third world countries like Nike isn’t a disadvantage to these workers, in fact it serves as an advantage.
With the increasing awareness and publicity of poor working conditions in subcontracted factories in East Asia, Nike has stimulated an uprising of activist and watchdog groups working toward seeing these conditions changed. With Nike in the negative spotlight, various organizations have revolved around generating a negative outlook on Nike’s practices of social irresponsibility. Certain campaigns such as the “National Days of Consciousness” and “International Day of Protest” were organized to educate people on the deplorable working conditions in Nike’s Asian manufacturing plants, and were designed to get more people involved in global employment issues.
But the forty or so factory workers in the Philippines who make the trainers will share just over £1 between them. " I think the writer is getting consumers to use their consumer power to not buy the products being advertised, by appealing to the consumers conscience, bringing to their attention the plight of the workers in L.E.D.C's. "Christian Aid charges the sports shoes companies with short changing the workers in Asia. It has calculated how long it would take a young production worker to earn the annual salary of Nike boss Phil Knight." Christian Aid have spent a lot of time finding out the facts to back up what they say they are bringing you information straight from the bosses and the workers and showing the reader the pain the workers are going through.