Nike and conflicts.

 

Nike and Conflicts

Nike Inc. is an American multinational established in 1964 in Oregon, United States. The company is popularly known for its excellent shoe designs and its promotional techniques. Nike has branded itself as athletic iconic shoes with the tagline “Just Do It”. Nike has also partnered with several legendary athletes like Michael Jordan, Cristiano Ronaldo, and LeBron James with a lifetime contract.

Nike spends a large share on marketing and PR campaigns to reach the eyes of people and this is one of the main reasons why Nike is counted in one of the best shoe companies in the world.

Nike being one the biggest shoe giant in the game has its operations across different part of globes also make it a part of conflicts but the company has mastered to overcome all the conflicts and remain the top in the game.

 

Nike Air Max Shoe offensive logo

Nike never fails to impress their customers with its legendary designs. One such attempt was made to impress their customers and capture the market with the new model of NIKE AIR MAX but the company failed badly because of its offensive logo. The logo faced backlashes by Muslims as the logo seemed offensive because of its Allah-like design.

The sole of some Nike Air Max shoes resembles the design similar to the word Allah which was offensive to the Muslim community all across the globe and this troubled the company when a customer name Saiqa Noreen raised the issue quoting “This is disrespectful and extremely offensive to Muslims all across the globe and insulting to Islam”.

A petition was also filled by the customer urging the company to recall these blasphemous and offensive shoes from worldwide sales with immediate effect. This petition was got support in huge number and this resulted in boycotting of the product in Muslim majority countries like Saudi Arabia and other countries. The company faced a huge decline in market share.

The council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was also seen fielding complaints about Nike. CAIR is a Muslim advocacy organization.

 

What did Nike do to resolve the issue?

After facing so much hatred in the market Nike was compelled to respond on this issue. The spokesperson of the organization said, “The logo is nothing more than a stylized representation of AIR MAX logo”. But this didn’t help the issue was raging and the petition got 64000 signatures.

Meanwhile, Saiqa Noreen demanded Nike to call all their models with such representations from the market from all across the globe. NIKE was compelled to call off 38,000 pairs of shoes from the market. Company also made an agreement with CAIR, under the agreement Nike will apologize to Muslims for any unintentional offense and in exchange council will urge Muslims worldwide not to boycott Nike products.

The issue was settled but Nike had to face a lot of hatred and it took some time for Nike to get back the position in the Market. But this displayed a classic example that customers are God for a company and the company has to keep their customers in mind before launching any product.

 

How decision made by Nike was an intelligent move

·         If Nike wouldn’t have called off their product, then they might have to face boycott in Muslim majority countries.

·         Their move of calling off shoes made their image as a company that values their customer.

·         This whole case brought Nike into the limelight globally.

·         The act of valuing their customer increased the brand loyalty and the profit share.

 

Why Research is necessary before launching any product.

The research and development (R&D) department is a necessary department in any organization as the main work of this department is to do thorough research before the launch of any product. Nike could have done a thorough research and created up all possible scenarios that might occur with the launch of the product. If market research was done properly then this issue might not have taken place.

Hence research is a crucial thing to conduct before the launch of any new product.

Hope this  Blog has made you clear with the AIR MAX log case and for such amazing case studies stay updated to the Marketing Hub-One stop for all amazing marketing content.