Re: Fw: Karen O'Conner in Women's E-News

In a message dated 10/17/03 5:26:42 PM Eastern Daylight Time, bpalmer@american.edu writes:

The Great Nike PR Scam

By Karen O'Connor, Women's ENews
October 16, 2003

Soccer moms have delivered many election victories to a host of
politicians. Now it is time for them to do something for their daughters.



"Save WUSA" homemade signs were being waved at all six World Cup games that
I attended at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., during September and
October. There was even a "Shame on Nike" on view.



Since the Women's United Soccer Association's announced its demise in
September, just before the World Cup Games, I also have read numerous
editorials and letters to the editor from fans decrying Nike's failure to
support the floundering league.



Nike did provide uniforms for three of the WUSA teams, which may have led
young girls and their mothers to buy the brand and assume that the company
was providing key corporate support. In fact, however, Nike declined a
league invitation to be its exclusive sponsor.



Now, as the league looks for sponsors to bring it back to life, soccer moms
and dads should be thinking about putting our money where it will help our
daughters. The next time we are tempted to purchase an item with a "swoosh"
logo, we should think twice. Where is our money going? Do we want it to
support the dreams of boys and men at the expense of our daughters?



As a long-time soccer mom – whose daughter went on to intern and then work
for two league teams – I cannot even fathom how much money I have spent
over the years on Nike running shoes, soccer cleats, shoe bags, shorts,
T-shirts, sports bras, watches, and so forth. Why not? Nike has acquired
the esteem of girls and young women. One Harris Poll found that Nike was
named by 23 percent of respondents as a major supporter of women's sports.
No other company came even close when it came to being perceived as a
supporter of women's sports.



But here's the reality. In the last year, Nike was willing to enter into a
$90 million endorsement deal with Akron, Ohio, high school senior LeBron
James based on its anticipation that James would be a top draftee to the
National Basketball Association. It gave $90 million to one individual
based on his potential. Denver Nuggets rookie Carmelo Anthony got another
$21 million after only one year of college basketball. That's $111 million.




Women's soccer league officials estimated that it would take $20 million to
save the league for another year. Twenty million dollars to keep the dreams
of thousands of little girls alive. Twenty million dollars to give millions
of girls and young women a host of soccer role models such as Mia Hamm,
Brandi Chastain and Abby Wambach.



Sure, Nike pledged to donate $100,000 to 10 communities a year to help
build soccer fields. But this spending is small change in a world of
$90-million contracts. Nike knows that it takes more than 10 soccer fields
across the country to encourage women in sports. And Nike knows that 72
percent of all women think it is "very important" to support women's
sports.



A quick look at Nike's home page during the World Cup appeared extremely
friendly to women's soccer. The sophisticated Web site allowed Internet
surfers to follow the U.S. World Cup team and even offered aspiring players
a series of questions designed to tell them which U.S. World Cup player
they are most like. What the site does not say, however, is that for the
millions of young who play soccer all over the United States this may be
the last chance to get to know Mia, Brandi or Abby.



Clearly, Nike, whose headquarters office building in Beaverton, Ore., is
named after Mia Hamm, isn't interested in the hopes and aspirations of
young girls or women. It is interested in their money. To cultivate female
customers – who make 80 percent of all purchasing decisions according to
Nike – the sports giant has specifically targeted them with focused
advertisements around National Girls and Women in Sports Day every
February.



It even has a new line of Nike Goddess clothing inspired by female pro
athletes that is designed to appeal to a wide range of female athletes.
Interestingly, Nike goddesses – at least in the form of some of those pro
soccer players – earn just $2,500 a year and free "stuff."



Can you imagine Nike even offering that amount to a professional male
athlete? It also has redesigned its NikeTown stores to make them more
welcoming and comfortable to women. This restructuring decision alone has
resulted in a 46 percent increase in the sale of women's apparel and,
presumably, a bolstering of Nike's image as a corporation that gets behind
women's sports.



In 1995, Nike, named after the Greek goddess of victory, launched its
highly successful "If You Let Me Play Sports" advertising campaign
featuring female athletes talking about how sports had enhanced the lives
of young girls in myriad ways from reducing rates of unwanted pregnancies,
alcohol and drug use to increasing the odds of their going to college.



But today the spirit behind this campaign seems strictly cynical. For what
Nike will pay LeBron James alone, it could have funded an entire league of
positive female role models for several seasons. Nike will no longer get my
money. I hope it won't get yours.



Karen O'Connor is director of the Women and Politics Institute at American
University in Washington, D.C., and a recovering soccer mom.

Read other stories by Karen O'Connor














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