This is a guest post from Eliza of Mothers Seeking Serenity.
Nike just launched an “edgy” wink wink campaign that showcased drug abuse. One t-shirt shows a spilled prescription medicine bottle labeled “Dope” with skateboard and snowboard-shaped pills tumbling out.
Would Nike glamorize cancer or diabetes to sell t-shirts?
Addiction is a brain disease and shouldn’t be capitalized on to pad the bottom line.
Trust me–there is nothing hip about watching your child graduate to heroin after becoming addicted to Oxycontin during a single trial run at a party. There is nothing cool about learning that your neighbor’s 18-year old has been sentenced to years in Folsom Prison because of crimes committed in pursuit of drugs. There is nothing edgy about seeing your friends’ daughter die because she became addicted to prescription meds after she broke her neck in a car accident. There is only heartbreak when an earnest high school student is t-boned and killed by a drunk teen driver as she returns home from work. Those are my local headlines—how about yours??
According to www.drugfree.org, over 11 million America families include teens who need treatment for drug and alcohol abuse.
I hereby volunteer to help Nike management understand the magnitude of this issue and how they can help solve the problem instead of contribute to it. Our full 30-minute Collision Course Teen Addiction Epidemic documentary will be shown on PBS in early October. Perhaps Nike will want to mitigate the damage of their ill-advised skate campaign by becoming a sponsor of our documentary.
In the meantime, please raise your voice and tell Nike that using drugs to sell t-shirts isn’t a whole lot different than selling drugs to our children.
Call Nike at 800 344-6453, option 5, then option 9 and tell them, “Just DON”T do it.”
(Eliza writes for Mothers Seeking Serenity Blog, three mother’s journeys through their children’s addictions. Find out more about Collision Course Teen Addiction Epidemic documentary and how to donate at Pathway to Prevention.)
What is your opinion on Nike’s new ad campaign? Is this the message that we want to send to our kids? I would love to hear your thoughts in comments.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider a free online email subscription.
Be Well.
Beyond Addiction:
Embrace the New Life
This FREE Ebook will show you how to create the LIFE you want after addiction.
- Accept and cope with your family's addiction.
- Create your own life rather than react to events around you
- Don't feel so alone on your addiction journey.
- Experience new meaning for your life.
- Find peace, serenity and joy
Thanks for posting that. I spent a good portion of yesterday making calls and writing letters. I am in the process of sending a letter to each of the Board of Directors (you can find the list with a google search). I also called to thank the Mayor of Boston who has spoken out against a display of the shirts at Niketown in his city.
The shirts disgust and sadden me. Drug abuse has turned our family upside down. My husband told them that their marketing execs need to attend funerals of young adults that died from addiction!
Hi Laine,
Thank you for all your efforts on behalf of the families who have suffered from this disease. Nike is just not putting families first over the bottom line. It feels like they are throwing our kids under the bus to make some money. Not OK. We all need to speak out and voice our concerns. I will make the same calls that you have suggested. Thanks so much for your comment.
This is so disappointing that Nike is putting out that kinds of product . I thought they were supposed to be about health and fitness. How sad!
Hi Lauren,
Yes, it is unfortunate. Hopefully with enough feedback from customers, they will rethink their strategy.