Have you heard about the new Nike Air Native N7 shoe made for Native Americans? Well, apparently word has made it to the International Herald Tribune.
Here's what IHT says:
But along with its trademarked swoosh, the Nike Air Native N7 features feathers and arrowheads, which bloggers have found off-putting.
"If this isn't an example of corporate manipulation of race, I don't know what is," wrote one of about 200 readers commenting online about an article that appeared in The Rapid City Journal in South Dakota. There, the response to the article was split.
I remember when I read this a few weeks ago. My first thought was that if I was Native American, I would be profoundly offended by this. In my second thought, I wondered when they were going to come out with the Nike Whitey Whoosh, or a Nike Caucasion Clodhopper, for us palefaces.
Maybe it's just me, but I find racial pandering to any ethnicity to be disgusting. Too many people and organizations are obsessed with that which separates, divides and draws Americans apart. Anyone born in this country is an American; someone who came here from another country and was naturalized could be considered a hyphenated American, but if we were born here, we're native to this country. And incidentally, unless we plan on moving to another country, we should all be pulling for this one and acting like we're on the same team. I don't care what someone's skin color or ancestry is; if we're Americans we're on the same team. Besides, we're all children of God, with equal standing in His eyes.
The Rapid City Journal also sheds this light:
Nike said it is the first time it has designed a shoe for a specific race or ethnicity. It said all profits from the sale of the shoe will be reinvested in health programs for tribal lands, where problems with obesity, diabetes and related conditions are near epidemic levels in some tribes.
This is another of the things I would have found offensive when I read this article. If I was a Native American, I'd probably take it like this: "So Nike thinks I'm such a fat, lazy Twinkie-eating slob that I need a special shoe to motivate me to run a few laps around the res? No thanks!"
The article says "the shoes have an $80 suggested retail price and will be sold to the Native American groups for $42.80." Some $40 shoes seems to make a lot of sense, when reservations like Pine Ridge make up the poorest areas in the nation.
8 comments:
You can be as offended as you want. But since I'm in the target audience, I'd love to at least try on a pair to see if they fit. Wouldn't that be a treat.
--My Shoe Salesman's Fat-Footed Friend
If it floats your boat to be pandered to on the basis of ethnicity, have at it.
Did you miss the part of the article that mentions different foot shapes? Or do you simply believe that's a marketing ploy and no such possibility exists? Or perhaps you support that I bypass the product entirely based solely upon the marketing?
--My Shoe Salesman's Fat-Footed Friend
Yes I read the part about the foot shape. Don't know if I buy it, but I read it. And even if there is a general difference, I'm not sure how much difference it makes; after all, I've never heard of anyone of a particular ethnic background complaining that they can't find shoes that will fit them.
Well , being a Native American, I was pleased when my brother called me and said “they finally made a shoe that will fit us” ( he and I). We both have spent the better part of 40 plus years suffering with shoes that either squeezed our toes together or our heels were flopping around in them.
We are buying some, and we don’t care what color they are. As far as “niche marketing” goes .. my Brother and I don’t care as long as the shoe fits , and also Thank you Nike and Sam McCracken.
I don’t think I can remember Native Americans being “First in line” for anything in my lifetime. It seems odd that people of other ethnic backgrounds are upset about this , almost to the point of insulting the Natives ( again).
Thanks, Jesse. Maybe there's been a long-standing shoe-fitting problem in the Native American community that I just never heard of.
I can't speak for others of varying ethnic backgrounds and their take on this shoe issue, but here's what it boils down to for me: there is so much ethnic pandering that goes on these days, that since I'm unaware of any shoe fitting problem, this just looks like another effort to pander to a minority group. I don't begrudge a particular group anything, I just wish there was more emphasis on what brings us together as Americans, than what sets us apart.
im from l.c.o rez in wisconsin. we have been exploited killed for so called progress. im certainly not going to buy shoes from a company that makes sweat shop shoes for so cheap then charges over a hundred dollars for them. taking advantage of other people mainly kids is just insane.
I am 15/16ths European and 1/16 Native American -- apparently that is enough to explain my feet! I was thrilled to hear about this. If I could find a shoe that fit (i.e. wasn't falling off the back to accommodate the width of the front) it would be the best thing since sliced bread.
american doria
of english, welsh, german, scottish, irish, AND native american descent
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