The Nike Thing

    I called my daughter Claire last night.

​   I called her because I wanted to talk about the Nike thing. I was feeling a little conflicted and was wondering if she was, too.

    The thing is, I do love the Nike Colin Kapernick campaign. Probably because for me "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice" is one of the few credenda from my deeply religious upbringing that actually stuck - so shoot me - and Nike, through Colin Kapernick, has taken up the cause of those who are hungering and thirsting for justice, even if this move has caused a 31% jump in sales for Nike, a 1% rise in stock price, and an upgraded Canaccord Genuity price from $78 to $95 (whatever that means, but it sounds like a sweet payoff for Nike).
     But I don't really care that  Nike is profiting nicely form their good deed, and that's not what I'm conflicted about.
      I'm conflicted because Nike's products have been made in overseas factories teeming with human rights violations: sweatshop conditions, the use of child labor, paying workers less than a living wage, forcing workers to live in cramped, squalid factory housing.

    This I learned from Claire, herself disciple of the 'Whatsoever you do to one of these, my little brothers and sisters" school of thought,

...who has for years made it a point to boycott Nike products. Thus I've also made it a point to boycott Nike products. All right, I probably wouldn't have bought any Nike products, anyway. I'm an Asics gal. But I've always thought of Nike as a bastion of inhumane corporate greed, more so than most bastions of inhumane corporate greed.
     On the other hand, it appears that Nike has, in recent years, been taking steps to improve conditions in its factories and making an effort to get itself off the top of the list of industrial human rights offenders. But the company seems to be always taking two steps forward and one step back and, according to organizations such as the Ethical Fashion Report that grade companies on their treatment of workers, Nike isn't doing enough to address the exploitation of the workers in its factories around the world.
     And so, though I wanted to cheer Nike's support for social justice in our country through the Colin Kapernick campaign, I couldn't help feeling a weence cynical, that this campaign might be just a public relations ploy, snow covering the dunghill, so to speak.
     I called Claire to find out which direction her moral compass pointed.
     Turned out she wasn't conflicted in the least, her perspective reflecting her usual common-sense optimism.
      "I think the Colin Kapernick Nike thing is great," she said, "and maybe this is a start for Nike to make up for past wrongs. Maybe this will be a jumping off point for Nike to improve conditions for their workers and even do other good things. Let's wait and see."
      Sounds like a good way of looking at it.
       So: Nike, your sins are forgiven. Maybe. So long as you go and sin no more.   

References
https://goodonyou.eco/how-ethical-is-nike/

https://www.thecut.com/2018/09/nikes-colin-kaepernick-ad-raises-issues-of-workers-rights.html

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5503956&page=1

https://baptistworldaid.org.au/resources/2018-ethical-fashion-report/

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/nike-upgraded-in-face-of-colin-kaepernick-advertising-controversy-2018-09-11

https://www.theologyofwork.org/the-high-calling/daily-reflection/blessed-are-those-who-hunger-and-thirst-justice