Reebok Logo, Nike Logo, Are They The Signs of Failure? 

With The "I Am What I Am" slogan, Reebok has launched a massive advertising campaign capitalizing on the "Thug" image of players like Allen Iverson, and rappers like 50 Cent.  It's no wonder Reebok would support a guy like A.I. if they are willing to promote someone like 50 who spits some of the most degrading and moronic lyrics in existence.  

However, marketers and record executives know that white kids will eat it up and buy millions of copies while helping in destroying the black culture of the United States.  Let's just take a look at some of 50's Lyrics.

I hear a lotta talkin niggaz must be mad at BANKS
But there only one problem niggaz ain't as bad as BANKS
Nigga yous front you gon get shot down
We fend to pump crack at cho spot now, G-Unit
Nigga ain't nuttin change
You move I'll blow your brains

Wow, this guy is almost as good as Allen Iverson who has the audacity to
release a song in which he says, "

"Everybody stay fly
Get money; kill and fuck bitches
I'm hitting anything
And planning on using my riches ...
Down for zero digits I'm a giant you're a midget ..."     Allen Iverson

Thanks alot Reebok.  We really appreciate you glamorizing pieces of shit such as Allen Iverson and 50 Cent.  I wonder how the Reebok CEO's would feel if they caught their 14 year old daughter listening to some of the garbage they sponser.

"I AM NOT a role model! I'm a professional basketball player. I am paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court. Parents should be role models" Charles Barkley

Charles Barkley uttered these words a few years back in a Nike commercial that stirred controversy across the country among fans and National Basketball Association players alike.

His words drew criticism from players like David Robinson of the San Antonio Spurs, who felt Barkley should step up and be accountable as a role model. He felt Barkley, as a celebrity and public figure in a highly visible sports league, was a role model whether he wanted to be or

DENVER -- Nike is using photos of Kobe Bryant for the first time since his arrest two years ago for an alleged assault on a female employee at a Colorado resort. The ad appears in Sports Illustrated. Prosecutors dismissed a rape charge against Bryant last September after the woman who accused him refused to go ahead with the case. Bryant publicly apologized to her without admitting any guilt. A civil suit filed by the woman against Bryant was settled out of court. Its details were not released.   Espn Sports

Nike is criticised for using sweatshops in countries like Indonesia and Mexico. The company has been subject to much critical coverage of the often poor working conditions and the exploitativeness of the cheap overseas labor employed in the free trade zones where their goods are typically manufactured. Sources of this criticism include Naomi Klein's book No Logo and Michael Moore's documentaries.

Max Barry lampooned the company's reputation amongst critics in his novel Jennifer Government, in which an amoral Nike executive is the story's villain.

The forced labor camp like conditions in some overseas production plants led to several called-for boycotts (eg.[2]), together with coining the alternative name for the company's swoosh logo, "swooshtika". .

Other sources of criticism are hypocritical advertising (ads about empowering women in the U.S. while disempowering women in East Asian factories)[3], and wording of endorsement contracts with some major universities that prohibits criticism of the apparel manufacturer by the university athletes and employees (this clause is also in some Reebok contracts), making publication of critical articles grounds for action.

The company also faced criticism when it claimed immunity from a false advertising lawsuit filed by Marc Kasky in California based on the claim that it enjoyed First Amendment rights, as if the corporation were a human being. The dispute proceeded all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court Nike v. Kasky, but was sent back to California courts without a substantive ruling and subsequently was settled out
of court.

Nike has also been the focus of criticism for using the Beatles song "Revolution" in a commercial against the wishes of Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney (this was after John Lennon's death.) Such use is considered demeaning to the author's intent in writing the song.

In late June of 2005, Nike came under fire from independent music fans for their use of a classic, easily identifiable Minor Threat album cover slightly modified into a promotional tool for their line of skateboarding shoes. With Minor Threat being emblematic of underground punk rock culture, and their former frontman Ian MacKaye (of Fugazi and Dischord Records) being an outspoken champion of true
independent music and the DIY ethic, Nike's move to use this image struck many as a cynical attempt by a large, money hungry corporation to target an untapped demographic, undermining what Minor Threat stood for, and what Dischord continues to represent. On the 27th of June, Nike skateboarding's website did issue an apology to Dischord, Minor Threat, and anyone else who was offended by their act, and claimed that all uses, digital or otherwise, of the image would be removed.

(source: wikipedia.org)

Please think before you decide to patronize the Nike or Reebok logo.