Topic: the History of a Nike Litigation
- Jun 17, 2008 01:23am by AceFadal - [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]~means To learn by doing
www.dipity.com/acefadal
WE ARE, Kansas City is [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]!
http://crushproofstudio.bandcamp.com/ Location: Downtown, Kansas City, Mo.
Nike Continues to Greeenwash
Sweatshop Labor
The Ecologist
April 2002
By Sharon Beder
Following years of criticism over its poor labour and environmental
standards, Nike claims to have cleaned up its act, even signing onto the
Global Compact to prove it. But the truth is rather different, and the
company's recent behaviour is a textbook study in greenwash.
Nike spends more money on advertising and promoting the reputation of
its products than most other companies in the world - $1.13 billion in
1998. Celebrities, such as Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Andre Agassi,
John McEnroe, Monica Seles and Carl Lewis are paid huge sums of money
for their association with the company's products. In 1998, for example,
Nike paid Tiger Woods $28 million and Michael Jordan $45 million.(1)
Contrast these vast sums with the money Nike spends on philanthropy in
the countries where its products are made. In Indonesia, for example, it
has spent $100,000 since 1998 on continuing education programmes for
Nike workers and $150,000 on small loans to unemployed and disadvantaged
people.(2)
These payments are also dwarfed by the amount the company spends on
strategic philanthropy and cause-related marketing in the US. It gives
millions of dollars to US schools and universities for sports equipment
and scholarships.(3) It has also donated millions to children's
television and to the Boys and Girls Club of America,(4) as well as
giving excess inventory, sample products and used office equipment to
charities.(5)
SOLE PROVIDER
At the 1997 meeting of Business for Social Responsibility a Nike
representative showed a video of happy workers in a Vietnamese factory.
'Unfortunately for Nike, two days later - while the conference was still
going on - a story appeared on the front page of The New York Times
about conditions in Vietnamese Nike plants where workers were being
exposed to carcinogens at 177 times safe levels, and were being paid
just $10 for a 65-hour work week (far longer than the local law
[allowed]).'(6)
Nike now embraces the rhetoric of environmental responsibility -
including what it calls the 'triple bottom line'.(7) This approach
supplements the financial/economic bottom line with a stated concern for
environmental and social responsibilities. To this end the company is
making efforts to recycle excess rubber from factories, converting to
water-based solvents and recycling used shoes. It has developed a tank
top made of 75 per cent recycled plastic and the T-shirts it sells in
the US contain 3 per cent organic cotton. It promised to be able to make
90 per cent of its shoes without toxic glues, cleaners and solvents by
2001. As a result it was chosen as one of the companies to be included
in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.(8) However, despite these
environmental improvements, Nike's reputation in the areas of social
responsibility and human rights has continued to come under attack.
HEAL OR HEEL?
Nike does not manufacture its own products. It only designs and markets
them. About 550,000 workers are employed in 700 factories in 50
countries to make Nike products, the majority in Asia.(9) The
contractors tend to pay close to the minimum wage.(10) This cheap labour
enables Nike to spend a great deal on design and marketing, pay large
executive salaries, maintain large profits, and still keep the cost of
the shoes affordable to the middle classes in affluent countries. Shoes
that cost $16.75 to manufacture are sold for around $100 in the US.(11)
Since Nike spends so much on marketing and so little on the product
itself, it is clear that the reputation of its brand is all-important.
The writer Naomi Klein has noted: 'In many ways branding is the Achilles
heel of the corporate world. The more these companies shift to being all
about brand meaning and brand image, the more vulnerable they are to
attacks on image.'(12) So Nike was in trouble when its contractors were
accused of manufacturing Nike products in sweatshop conditions, using
child labour, paying less than the minimum wage, enforcing overtime,
subjecting employees to verbal abuse and sexual harassment, and running
factories like prison camps.(13)
In 1991 the UK's Thames TV, The Economist and Knight Ridder reported on
conditions in Nike factories in Indonesia. US television network CBC
reported in 1993 that workers suffered physical and sexual abuse on top
of their low wages and an exhausting quota system. It reported that Nike
workers in Vietnam earned an average of 20 US cents per hour, and were
subject to physical punishments such as being hit on the head by
supervisors and being forced to kneel on the ground with their hands in
the air for periods of time. The New York Times, The International
Herald Tribune and The Economist also reported on Nike's Asian factories
in 1993. Further bad press in 1994 included investigative reports in The
Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago
Tribune and a book by Donald Katz called Just Do It.(14)
By 1997 Nike had become a symbol of sweatshop labour in the Third World
and was the target of several protests outside store openings and by
students against their universities' links with the company. In October
1997 anti-Nike rallies were held in 50 US cities and 11 other
countries.(15)
All the while Nike continued to defend its wage levels with commissioned
studies(16) and rhetoric. CEO Phil Knight claimed that working
conditions in Asian factories had improved drastically since Nike had
begun business 25 years before. He said that if a shoe factory worker
had gone to sleep just 10 years earlier and woken up in the late 1990s
they would have thought that they had 'died and gone to heaven'.(17)
By 1998, however, the damage to Nike's reputation was beginning to be
felt in the account books. Share prices were dropping and sales were
weak.(18) Knight admitted: 'The Nike product has become synonymous with
slave wages, forced overtime and arbitrary abuse'.(19) To counter this
Nike poured its marketing expertise into its own corporate reputation
and sought to portray a caring company that was concerned about working
conditions in its contractors' factories. It hired a former Microsoft
executive to be vice president for corporate and social responsibility,
and expanded its corporate responsibility division to 70 people.(20)
This public relations campaign also included upgrading its own code of
conduct and participating in a range of coalitions. These included the
Global Alliance for Workers and Communities (aimed at helping workers in
Third World shoe and clothing factories)(21) and other business
coalitions with a stated social responsibility agenda like the
aforementioned Business for Social Responsibility.(22) The company,
however, continued to oppose labour and human rights linkages to trade
agreements.(23)
STITCHED IN TIME
In response to the ongoing criticism, Nike formulated a code of conduct
for its contractors. The code, first formulated in 1992 and amended in
1997 and 1998, is supposed to apply in all factories producing Nike
products. It includes recommendations for minimum wages (as set in the
host country), maximum mandatory working hours of 60 per week, a minimum
age for workers of 16 years old, a ban on forced labour and minimum
safety and environmental standards.(24)
Nike also repeatedly referred to its membership of the Fair Labor
Association (FLA), which was set up in 1998 with the help of the White
House, the US Department of Labor and the apparel industry - purportedly
to safeguard working conditions in factories contracted to US
companies.(25) Although a number of NGOs were involved in the FLA's
formation, two unions, a department store and the Interfaith Center on
Corporate Responsibility pulled out because they disagreed with the
final agreement and were concerned that the FLA was little more than a
public relations exercise.(26)
The FLA has a voluntary code of conduct and member companies can attach
a 'No Sweat' label to their goods.(27) The code says that companies will
pay the minimum wage or prevailing industry wage of the country in which
they are operating, but makes no provision that companies should pay a
wage that workers can live on. Since many poor countries compete for
international investment by keeping the minimum wage low, the minimum
wage is often below a subsistence income, especially for supporting a
family.(28)
The code limits mandatory overtime so workers cannot be made to work
more than 60 hours a week. However, a compulsory 60-hour week is
excessive and there are no limits on voluntary overtime above and beyond
this. Furthermore, the very low wages ensure that workers need to work
overtime in order to earn enough to live on.(29)
The code gives very limited support for the right of workers to organise
in unions. It merely says that corporations will not 'affirmatively seek
the assistance of state authorities to prevent workers from exercising
these rights'. According to Alan Howard from the Union of Needletrades,
Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), this means 'you can let the
army into the factory to put down a strike, as long as you don't pick up
the phone and call them.'(30)
As Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange has pointed out, according to this
agreement companies could still pay their workers 20 cents an hour,
coerce them into countless hours of 'voluntary overtime', use accounting
firms that have no connection to workers as their external monitors and
be rewarded for this behavior with a 'no sweatshop' seal of
approval.(31)
For companies like Nike, whose financial bottom line does not allow it
to deal with the deep-seated causes of its poor reputation, the UN now
offers additional support to bolster their reputations. In 1999 the UN
sponsored a partnership with corporations centered on a code of
principles entitled the Global Compact.(32) The compact commits
corporations who sign up to uphold nine human rights principles. These
include the right to join unions, the elimination of child labour and
the development of environmentally-friendly technologies.(33)
However, critics argue that the compact is merely a means by which
companies that have been accused of human rights violations can 'win UN
endorsement and use the UN emblem to give their corporate activities a
branding makeover, while doing nothing of substance to clean up the
conditions in their factories and industrial sites'.(34)
Furthermore, the compact is voluntary and has no monitoring or
enforcement mechanisms. All that is required of companies is that they
place information on a UN website about the steps that they are taking
to improve working conditions and reduce environmental degradation.
Joshua Karliner, executive director of the Transnational Resource and
Action Center, says: 'It allows companies like Nike... to wrap
themselves in the UN flag without any binding commitment to change.'(35)
LACE AFFAIR
In order for its code and internet pronouncements to have credibility,
Nike needed to have them endorsed by parties that are seen to be
independent and to have integrity. The UN is just one of many
organisations and individuals that have filled this role. A number of
other NGOs have also participated in the compact, so adding to its
credibility. These include Amnesty International, the World Wide Fund
for Nature and labour organisations such as the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions. However, this is no guarantee that
the material posted on the website will be more than empty rhetoric, as
these organisations are not expected to do any monitoring of the claims
made.(36)
In 1997 Nike paid former UN ambassador Andrew Young to visit its
contractors' factories in Asia and report on working conditions in the
hope that he would provide a much needed independent endorsement.
However, human rights groups criticised his tour as a public relations
sham.(37) The company also gave handpicked students and journalists
tours of selected factories. Nike's attempt at getting the endorsement
of NGOs and unions for the FLA agreement was similarly unsuccessful. It
therefore encouraged many university administrations to join the FLA so
as to give it credibility. Well over 100 did so, but student activists
remained concerned about the involvement of companies like Nike and the
effectiveness of the monitoring process. In response they formed their
own alliance together with unions and human rights groups in October
1999 - the Workers' Rights Consortium (WRC).(38)
The WRC promotes a 'living wage' rather than a minimum wage - that is,
that workers be paid enough to meet their basic needs of food, clothing
and shelter and be allowed a little extra for discretionary
spending.(39) Phil Knight has called the requirement for companies to
pay a living wage 'unrealistic',(40) but Benjamin estimated in 1998 that
if Nike doubled the wages of workers in its Indonesian factories from 10
cents per hour to 20, it would only cost an extra $20 million a year.
This is what Nike spends on sponsoring the Brazilian football team, and
is less then 3 per cent of the company's annual advertising budget.(41)
Nike has 'partnerships' with over 200 tertiary US colleges and
universities,(42) many of which involve cause-related marketing deals
providing them with a financial reason for supporting the company.
Increasingly, however, under pressure from student activists,
universities have been joining up with the WRC rather than the FLA. To
the dismay of Nike, some 50 universities have joined up so far,(43) thus
undermining the credibility of the FLA.
The company has retaliated against some of the universities that have
joined the WRC. It has withdrawn from a contract to supply hockey
equipment to Rhode Island's Brown University and has also withdrawn $8m
in funding from Michigan University after the latter joined the WRC.(44)
When the University of Oregon joined, Phil Knight, who had personally
given what is his alma mater $50m over the years, announced he would not
be making any further donations 'of any kind' to the university. He
claimed that 'by joining the Worker Rights Consortium, the University of
Oregon inserted itself into the new global economy where I make my
living, and it inserted itself on the wrong side, fumbling a teachable
moment'.(45)
Nike's efforts to boost its reputation and get third-party endorsement
have been more successful in the environmental area. In 1998 Nike joined
20 other major US companies that committed themselves to no longer using
or selling wood and paper products made from 'old growth' forests. The
agreement was negotiated by a coalition of environmental groups
including Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the
Rainforest Action Network.(46)
In 1998 Nike promised to phase out the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
from its shoes. It enrolled Greenpeace, which has a worldwide campaign
against PVC, to publicise the promise. In a press conference in Oregon,
Nike's home state, Greenpeace read a Nike company statement which said
that the search for a suitable substitute for PVC had 'barely just
begun'. It was unable to predict when its shoes would be PVC-free.(47)
Nike stated that the 'action was not intended to divert attention away
from criticism it [had] received over its labour practices in low-wage
countries'.(48) Nike director of corporate responsibility Sarah Severn
stated that it did not choose to publicise its decision to remove PVC
from its shoes because it would have been accused of greenwashing.(49)
Apparently, Nike believed that if Greenpeace did the PR for it the
greenwashing label would not be used. Severn was speaking at a
Greenpeace Business and the Environment conference in Sydney in July
2000 at which Nike had been invited to be present as a model of
corporate environmental progress and responsibility.
SWOOSH OR SHUSH
Recent surveys continue to find that workers making Nike products suffer
inadequate wages, abusive treatment and excessive work hours as well as
intimidation if they try to form unions. Huge disparities remain.
Chinese workers receive about $1.50 per pair of shoes that sell for
$80-$120.(50) The rewards for those who manufacture the products (an
average of $786 per year in Indonesia)(51) are minute compared with the
remuneration for those who endorse them. 'In one year, Nike paid Michael
Jordan [pictured above] as much (about $25m) to pitch the shoes as its
subcontractors paid 35,000 Vietnamese to make them.'(52) Nike executives
are also very well paid. Knight is a billionaire, one of the richest men
in the world, who in the year ending 31 May 2000 earned a salary of
$1.2m and a bonus of $1.3m - up 26 per cent on the previous year.(53)
Community Aid Abroad in Australia points out: 'As the company with the
largest profit margins Nike could more easily afford to ensure decent
pay and conditions in its suppliers' factories.'(54) Instead Vietnamese
workers making Nike products earned less than half of what other foreign
companies (apart from Reebok) pay their least skilled factory workers in
Vietnam.(55)
Nike's response to all the criticisms directed at it has been largely
superficial. It has employed reputation management rather than
instigated real reforms that addressed the underlying issues. It is the
appearance of social and environmental responsibility that Nike has
aimed for, and it has employed the classic public relations tactics of
codes and pledges with third-party endorsements to achieve this.
JUST DO IT
Reputation is more important than ever to sales, shareholder value and
attracting employees. And corporate responsibility is an increasingly
vital element of reputation. But this does not mean that we can depend
on the enlightened self-interest of corporate management and boards of
directors to ensure that human rights and the environment are
safeguarded.
It is for this reason that community groups that concentrate their
efforts on consumer boycotts, shareholder activism and partnerships with
business will often only be able to achieve superficial reforms rather
than fundamental change. Real long-term change will involve the
cultivation of grassroots power to oppose the muscle of companies whose
fundamental products or ways of doing business need to be changed.
References
1 Holger Jensen, 'Low pay, high desire: a tale of 2 swooshes in
Indonesia', Denver Rocky Mountain News, July 2, 2000 p. 41A; Esther de
Haan and Vivian Schipper, 'Nike Casefile', (Clean Clothes Campaign,
www.cleanclothes.org/companies/nikecase99-11-2.htm), 1999
2 Nike, 'Responsibility', (Nike, nikebiz.com/social/index.shtml), 2000.
3 Ibid.
4 Cynthia Cotts, 'A study in Synergy', Village Voice, 19-25 July, 2000.
5 Nike, 'Responsibility'.
6 Ibid.
7 Sarah Severne, 'Nike's Journey to Sustainability'Paper presented at
the Business and the Environment: Solutions for the new millennium,
Sydney, 20-21 July 2000.
8 Michelle Cole, 'Nike sporting a new color: green', Oregon Live, August
14, 2000.
9 'Nike pledges to improve conditions in Asian factories', Asia Pulse,
July 18, 1997; Jensen, p. 41A.
10 Community Aid Abroad Australia, 'Frequently asked questions', (CAA,
www.caa.org.au/campaigns/nike/faq.html), 2000; Jeff Ballinger, Nike: Hot
Air, Multinational Monitor, December, 1994; de Haan and Schipper.
11 Jensen, p. 41A.
12 Naomi Klein in CBC Entertainment,'Activist Naomi Klein on her new
book No Logo', (CBC,
infoculture.cbc.ca/archives/bookswr/bookswr_01182000_naomikleininterview
.phtml), 2000.
13 'Nike to sever ties with Indonesian companies', Wisconsin State
Journal, September 23, 1997, p. 7B; Bob Herbert, 'Nike factory in
Vietnam marks women's day with brutality', Minneapolis Star Tribune,
March 31, 1997 p. 13A; Scott Sonner, 'Lawmakers contrast Nike CEO's
billions, Asian workers' pennies', The Columbian, November 11, 1997 p.
B2.
14 Clean Clothes Campaign, 'Nike's Track Record 1988-2000', (Clean
Clothes Campaign, www.cleanclothes.org/companies/niketrack.htm), 2000;
Tammara Porter, 'Teens find alleged Nike labor practices unfair, but
wait to act', Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 7, 1997 p. 6B.
15 Bob Baum, 'Study shows wages for Nike workers in Vietnam, Indonesia
more than adequate', The Columbian, October 17, 1997 p. C10; Clean
Clothes Campaign www.cleanclothes.org/companies/niketrack.htm.
16 Baum, p. C10.
17 Nike to sever ties with Indonesian companies', p. 7B.
18 John H. Cushman Jr, 'Nike pledges to end child labor and increase
safety', New York Times, May 13, 1998.
19 Quoted in Bob Herbert, 'Nike Blinks', New York Times, May 21, 1998.
20 Cushman, Jr.
21 Andy Dworkin, 'Nike's Phil Knight starts at top to plead case on
labor practices', Oregon Live, July 30, 2000.
22 Press for Change et al.; Human rights organisations, unions and
academic researchers, 'Open letter to Phillip Knight, CEO of Nike',
(Clean Clothes Campaign,
www.cleanclothes.org/companies/nike-99-9-22.htm), 1999.
23 United Students Against Sweatshops, 'Anti-sweatshop group calls
Nike-sponsored inspection tour a sham', (Corporate Watch,
www.corpwatch.org/trac/nike/news/usas.html), 1999; Press for Change et
al.
24 'Nike pledges to improve conditions in Asian factories.'
25 'Falling off the tightrope', Oregon Live, 25 April, 2000.
26 Julie Light, 'Sweatwash: The apparel industry's efforts to co-opt
labor rights, (Corporate Watch,
www.corpwatch.org/greenwash/sweatwash.html), 1998; Jeffrey St. Clair and
Alexander Cockburn, 'Phoney Sweatshop Reform Plan', (Counterpunch,
www.corp.watch.org/trac/greenwash/4sweat.html), 1998.
27 St. Clair and Cockburn.
28 De Haan and Schipper.
29 Medea Benjamin, 'No sweat for companies to agree', Los Angeles Times,
April 17, 1997.
30 Quoted in Light.
31 Benjamin.
32 United Nations, 'The Global Compact', (United Nations,
www.unglobalcompact.org), 2000.
33 Katherine Butler, 'UN offers firms 'logo for human rights'',
Independent, July 26, 2000 p. 14.
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid.
36 Butler, p. 14; Colum Lynch, 'Companies, U.N. agree to rights compact;
environmental, labor criteria set, The Washington Post, July 27, 2000 p.
A6.
37 'Nike to sever ties with Indonesian companies', p. 7B.
38 De Haan and Schipper.
39 Community Aid Abroad Australia, 'Frequently asked questions'.
40 Phil Knight.
41 Quoted in de Haan and Schipper.
42 Bill Workman, 'Stanford seeks ways to reverse trend of commercial
sponsors', San Francisco Chronicle, February 20, 1998.
43 'Future of worker rights group questioned', Oregon Live, July 22,
2000.
44 Campaign for Labor Rights, Press for Change and Global Exchange,
'USA: Nike uses bullying tactics at Brown University', (Corporate Watch,
www.corpwatch.org/trac/headlines/2000/100.html), 2000.
45 Phil Knight.
46 Danielle Knight, 'Corporate giants abandon 'old-growth' forest
products', Inter Press Service English News Wire, December 10, 1998.
47 'Nike agrees to stop using PVC for shoes', Los Angeles Times, August
26, 1998, p. D4. 'Nike to remove substance from shoes', United Press
International, August 26, 1998.
48 Ibid.
49 Severne.
50 Press for Change et al.; Human rights organisations, unions and
academic researchers, 'Open letter to Phillip Knight, CEO of Nike',
(Clean Clothes Campaign,
www.cleanclothes.org/companies/nike-99-9-22.htm), 1999; Community Aid
Abroad Australia, 'Frequently asked questions'.
51 Jensen, p. 41A.
52 Julie Schmit, 'Nike's image problem', USA Today, 4 October, 1999.
53 'Nike CEO Knight pulled in $2.5M in salary/bonus for 2000', News
Traders, August 16, 2000; Clean Clothes Campaign,
www.cleanclothes.org/companies/niketrack.htm; Sonner, p. B2.
54 Community Aid Abroad Australia, 'Frequently asked questions'.
55 Schmit.
56 Steffan Heuer, 'Six Degrees of Co-optation', (The Standard,
www.thestandard.com/article/display/0.1151.16192.00.html), 2000.
57 Nike, 'Responsibility', (Nike, nikebiz.com/social/index.shtml), 2000.
58 Ibid.
59 Corporate Watch,' Exposing Nike's Sweatshops', (Corporate Watch,
www.corp.watch.org/trac/nike/), 2000; William McCall, 'Nike says Vietnam
factory woes being fixed', The Columbian, September 11, 1997 p. B2.
60 de Haan and Schipper.
61 Corporate Watch, 'Exposing Nike's Sweatshops'.
- Jun 18, 2008 04:09am by MilkDrop - http://milkisrhyming.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com/soulofmycity
www.myspace.com/soulproviderscrew Location: First City, KS
i'ma still rock 1's and Jordans all day every day.
- Jun 18, 2008 04:35am by AceFadal - [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]~means To learn by doing
www.dipity.com/acefadal
WE ARE, Kansas City is [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]!
http://crushproofstudio.bandcamp.com/ Location: Downtown, Kansas City, Mo.
Thats right! Im American. This is PLO style!
whatever. Its time for a revolution, that shit is played out. Get Green!
[img:133aa95637]http://www.myhero.com/images/Community/Environment/g1_u25389_weaving1.jpg[/img:133aa95637]
Cant wait for them to work for George
[img:133aa95637]http://images.ctv.ca/archives/CTVNews/img2/20060125/160X_ap_hamas1_060125.jpg[/img:133aa95637]
Glad this kid is hard at work!
[img:133aa95637]http://bokertov.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/pal_hamas_boy_w_auto_rifle.jpg[/img:133aa95637]
"This is Why they Hot!"
Literally, they hate us. Well, you infidels anyway, for your materialism. They have nothing, you have everything. You don't care. Thats why there are over 4,000 men and women dead.
just kidding...
all rehtoric
If you don't understand any of that you will understand this.
[url]www.adbusters.org[/url]
Tis was all I needed to read in this months issue.....
[color=yellow:133aa95637]
[size=18:133aa95637]"I go to school with 900 (in a forum/city)* of the same (hiphop)* kids. Nine hundred buyers and promoters, living advertisements for Hollister and Nike. Nine hundred kids, all of them pampered and programmed by television and ad slogans to believe in preconceived ideals. All of them staring at me, as if I'm the one who is misled or wrong. We all go to the same school (forum)* and have had the same brands thrown at us since preschool.
So I'm trying to figure out why they have been taken over so quickly. Its not that they're all dumb. they just don't realize that they arn't the ones buying, they are the ones being bought.
So I pity them. All 900, living in an ad-filled reality. I pity them because I can't (and don't)* hate them. They can't help it. they've been raised on money and discriminatin, all of us have. From the start, we're all taught to believe in corporations, and that buying what looks "cool" will make us happy, unique and popular- but most of all, accepted.
Adam, age 12
Nowhere, Connecticut, USA[/size:133aa95637]
[/color:133aa95637] (some cool people here. I love Sikes clothing, showed it off the whole time I was in Davenport since Sunday and I spend grip on his sh*t, cant nobody here say I dont support a local artist and thats real.)*
*=Inserted 'BUY' Ace Fadal
Suckers! You pay $150.00 in paper for some leather put together for $15.00 with some cotton thread and your records still didn't, don't and won't go wood.
I know kids in town who got the flyest kicks,
go home alone and sleep on they mamas couch!
I get more play with feminine sandals,
tellin you kats what its all about.
Come to the forum wanna spit and ramble.
Like they forget that the money is scandlous.
I cant understand kids
just get the basics.
got my head in a gel like Asics.
Yes, Im wasted.
Cant help it kid the Fatal is Aces!
This post is not directed at anyone or person in particular. Just venting to my "Peeps" 🙄
[img:133aa95637]http://www.adbusters.org/files/images/nike.jpg[/img:133aa95637]
Hey I come with all of this when Im with my real fam, so I hope the respect is still there cause I want you all to know that I still love you thats why I chastize cause I care about your soul!
I also listened to Talented Teeth (tenth) on the way home from Iowa, my favorite track is "Say" ask Les about that though.
PEACE
AF
- Jun 18, 2008 06:13am by beatbroker - -beatbroker
HHA/Symbol Heavy/IN crew Location: KCMO
Every product you consume, from cell phones and beat machines to blue jeans and New Eras are produced under highly questionable circumstances.
You just pick on Nike because they are one of the largest and most successful. I assure you that Coca-Cola & McDonalds are equally evil.
I do my part. I don't consume products from either and I don't shop at Walmart. I recycle and never litter. I try to contribute to almost anything
that i deem a worthy cause...
Boycotting Nike though? FUCK THAT!!
I do what i can, but we all must have our vices.
besides... I'd work in unsafe conditions at 12 cents a day for free kicks.
where do i sign up?
- Jun 18, 2008 09:33pm by trystyl - www.myspace.com/trystyl Location: KCMO
the problem that you fail to understand is that while the working conditions are absolutely deplorable.... by boycotting nike you are litterally taking food out of the mouths of the people you wish to help.
Its extremely fucked up system but until the working class holds the power world wide boycotting is only a damaging tactic
- Jun 18, 2008 10:09pm by AceFadal - [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]~means To learn by doing
www.dipity.com/acefadal
WE ARE, Kansas City is [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]!
http://crushproofstudio.bandcamp.com/ Location: Downtown, Kansas City, Mo.
[quote:e356be0e82="trystyl"]the problem that you fail to understand is that while the working conditions are absolutely deplorable.... by boycotting nike you are litterally taking food out of the mouths of the people you wish to help.
Its extremely fucked up system but until the working class holds the power world wide boycotting is only a damaging tactic[/quote:e356be0e82]
Also true and glad someone brought this up. It is reall fucked up how there system works. Its just like I was one of those people screaming at people buying Hummers 4 years ago. Now I laugh at them. Then Reganomics have allow companies to merge and buy up everything. Sirus and XM just merged and they said they wouldn't, now one company owns satellite radio. there is no need for competition. so if you want it, you pay what they say.
I just wish that an American was getting that dough. Especially when people in my family are getting laid off from places like GM and Lee (yes the jean company) another one of my friends just lost her job @ Hallmark. That shit is going to India. So I have also decide to boycott Hallmark.
Making a conscious decision not to support something does not make you any less of a dope person. You got the flyest kicks, but they ain't what make you kids so cool? Pooty-tang, the power is in you.
I guess I'm just lucky enough to be surronded by people who careless about those things and more about people. (they made fun of me when I got my sidekick, at the same time, people tell me I'm trying to style when I whip it out. but I honestly got it cause I text the hell out of shit)
Imagine if Jay-Z still supported Cristal. The owner of theat company bold face said "I didn't make it for you people anyway"
[quote:e356be0e82][color=yellow:e356be0e82]Cristal managing director Frederic Rouzaud told The Economist magazine he was unimpressed the expensive beverage has become popular in rap circles.
Rouzaud said, "(It's) unwelcome attention. What can we do?
"We can't forbid people from buying it. I'm sure Dom Perignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business."[/color:e356be0e82][/quote:e356be0e82]
But people still slave their mind to that madness, and drink that shit.
It takes a leader to start a revolution. Any here?
I can promise you if 70% of the World HipHop/Music community, along with athletes, came together and told Nike that they were not purchasing anymore of their product until they proved that they were an upright corp., some changes would be made. If nigga started saying f*ck Nike in their shit, Nike would be like whooooah.
And your wrong, I boycott lots o shit.I got a list, no Wal-Mart, no BP, No Shell, No Chevron, Dole, Kraft, Colgate-Palmolive(KC based), Ford, GM, Haliburton, Blackwater, Jiffy Lube, Quaker State, American Family, I could go on and on.
I haven't eaten bananas in over a year, because they leave too high of a carbon imprint. It takes alot of energy to get those monkey d*cks over to our country. (If you don't believe me read today's New York Times), and there is slave labor involved in that too. (the banana biz)
I call it my sacrifice. I [u:e356be0e82]only[/u:e356be0e82] eat local organic Beef and Chicken too. and in the summer its local veggies or nothin. No McD's, no Coke, nothing In my life is commercial. Except for my music equipment.
I did an inventory, and most of my clothes are foreign made. I own a pair of Nikes that I got for $10.00 at the Harold Penners outlet. Shoes that were $85.00 at one time. Thats how I justify it. But hey you gotta live. Im not saying boycott Nike.
But check yourself.
Do you gotta have it?
I mean look at the power and light district. Kansas City ho'ed out the Plaza to Highwood properties, then they did the same downtown, and are the people in KC happy? barely. Did they show love to any of the business owners down there? no.
Are they the only spot in KC with a wheat beer @ $7.00 for less than a pint?
come on people.
the revolution can't happen because I gotta get newest latest kicks.
I'm spending my money on bullets. Cause when you got your nikes and got my food. all you can do is run while i eat.
my lettuce
[img:e356be0e82]http://a660.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/54/l_1b3b7a2119ada0e49e1910f89355636b.jpg[/img:e356be0e82]
my corn
[img:e356be0e82]http://a669.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/112/l_259bb5e11816b39fe505af1c06c20184.jpg[/img:e356be0e82]
good talk!
I feel understood and validated.
get green!!!!
[url]http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=54026039&albumId=1943185[/url]
PEACE!
af
- Jun 19, 2008 03:00am by sikestyle - -Stuff and Things...Things and Stuff...
www.sikestyle.com Location: Kansas City
Going "green" would be so much more appealing if it just had better spokes people.
Lets try not to post anti-semitic images to make a point about the environment and labor rights.
Please find a new way to get your point across.
thanks
- Jun 19, 2008 08:16pm by AceFadal - [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]~means To learn by doing
www.dipity.com/acefadal
WE ARE, Kansas City is [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]!
http://crushproofstudio.bandcamp.com/ Location: Downtown, Kansas City, Mo.
Real Talk?!
I just typed "foriegn kids @ work" or some shit, in my search que and this it what it gave me for images and I was quoting Wu-Tang, when i said plo style.
I can't help it if the truth offends you. That shit exist, WTF? I took an awfully big microscope to figure this one out huh? Always a conspiracy with you people. I just posted some random images and you wanna call me a racist. All I seen was a kid with a gun. A friend of mine told me it was an image of the leader of hamas in the background. So what. I did'nt post it to be an anti-semite.
Whatever.
People like you use that word to much, and too carelessly. Thats the same thing the said about Jimmy Carter and Noam Chomsky. Im neither one.
but shut up already. Its sitll attack the whack in '08. I don't know why you think its different?
People like you are the reason we have no idea whats really going on In Israel. (illegal occupation) whats really going on with the FCC (global consolidation), and whats really going on in places like Burma (Human rights violations).
I'll leave your little fashion section alone, just as long as you can promise me that your not posting anything, nor selling in my city made by little kids.
[color=yellow:80315f3498]Do the people in Haiti get a profit off of what you make on your t-shirts? [/color:80315f3498]
Don't attack me when i was clearly making an honest attempt to have a real convo, about something petty.
The Truth hurts. My people are blind.
I feel sorry for you.
you wanna talk racist?
Because I know they are the largest growers of sugar in the world of, and they are buying that shit from us.
Yeah sugar is imported to Haiti, and on the way back is the container is full of Sike shirts!
Hey I'm just listening to Tienanmen Square so forgive me if I'm a little emotional.
Whats real?
When does it stop. I will leave Nike alone. But I don't think you want me to go on a serious city wide ban or boycott on Sike clothing, like I've been told to.
I'm trying to support you and you attack me? stop starting shit.
that hurts.....
whats good homie?
im lost?
- Jun 19, 2008 09:47pm by sikestyle - -Stuff and Things...Things and Stuff...
www.sikestyle.com Location: Kansas City
Yes....
People like me understand why Israel is what it is from both sides.
I understand very well what's going on in the world and feel as much frustration about it as you do, and I have probably grown a bad attitude about some topics that i think are impossible to change at the rate things are going in the world.
I don't feel the need to prove to you what i know or understand.
To spew a bunch of facts and post some pics wouldn't change anyones mind about anything. So i am not going to get into and back and forth about world issues or other related subjects. I'm just going to say this and let it be.
I'm not against organic anything or workers rights my problem is with YOU!
Disagreeing with how you present yourself on this board doesn't automatically lump me in some "anti" category where i don't care about the world and our impact on the planet. C'mon, you can try to paint me as an evil corporation all you want.
Bottom line is you have to understand that images are as powerful as words. Yeah that might have been a random search for images but you just happened to pic ones of Hamas and use a PLO statement (who doesn't know meth said that). So to me that's the 2nd time you'd said some anti-jewish ish without you probably know it. Once before to Nadia and now this just looks a bit familiar that's all i am saying.
- Jun 20, 2008 03:00am by NRG - livin the art that is life !
www.64111clinic.com fam
www.nrginmotion.com massage
www.myspace.com/nrginmotion world community Location: havenhouse KCK/ 64111 Clinic 4 Life
[quote:1619d96ef5="AceFadal"]Real Talk?!
I just typed "foriegn kids @ work" or some shit, in my search que and this it what it gave me for images and I was quoting Wu-Tang, when i said plo style.
I can't help it if the truth offends you. That shit exist, WTF? I took an awfully big microscope to figure this one out huh? Always a conspiracy with you people. I just posted some random images and you wanna call me a racist. All I seen was a kid with a gun. A friend of mine told me it was an image of the leader of hamas in the background. So what. I did'nt post it to be an anti-semite.
Whatever.
People like you use that word to much, and too carelessly. Thats the same thing the said about Jimmy Carter and Noam Chomsky. Im neither one.
but shut up already. Its sitll attack the whack in '08. I don't know why you think its different?
People like you are the reason we have no idea whats really going on In Israel. (illegal occupation) whats really going on with the FCC (global consolidation), and whats really going on in places like Burma (Human rights violations).
I'll leave your little fashion section alone, just as long as you can promise me that your not posting anything, nor selling in my city made by little kids.
[color=yellow:1619d96ef5]Do the people in Haiti get a profit off of what you make on your t-shirts? [/color:1619d96ef5]
Don't attack me when i was clearly making an honest attempt to have a real convo, about something petty.
The Truth hurts. My people are blind.
I feel sorry for you.
you wanna talk racist?
Because I know they are the largest growers of sugar in the world of, and they are buying that shit from us.
Yeah sugar is imported to Haiti, and on the way back is the container is full of Sike shirts!
Hey I'm just listening to Tienanmen Square so forgive me if I'm a little emotional.
Whats real?
When does it stop. I will leave Nike alone. But I don't think you want me to go on a serious city wide ban or boycott on Sike clothing, like I've been told to.
I'm trying to support you and you attack me? stop starting shit.
that hurts.....
whats good homie?
im lost?[/quote:1619d96ef5]
Ace, WE collectively know this shit is happening and we indivivually are coping with ALL of this and life stuff everyday like you.
Don't get me wrong, but you taking personal affence at anyone of us here because of how we do or do not respond to your posts here is in itself one more stressor I personally don't want or need.
The world is not doing too well right now, lots of death, anger, poverty, decline and so much more, but you venting about it and then attacking and then threating people because they take you on for your attitudes is too much for me to bear right now.
if you can find it in yourself to not personalize world events as if they are happening directly to YOU, then maybe that is the first step to uniting or at the very least being heard more
Ace, I love you and you know it but man take a step back, breathe a little, and see that personal attacks towards others is NOT the way.
I saw your threat towards sike, an I couldn't believe my eyes. don't you know folks are reading what you write and if you trying to build with someone attacking them is the worst way in the world to build a mutually beneficial relationship?
call me if you wanna talk about my post you got my number. I am always willing to convo with you
but this right here is not helping any cause you might care about. it just is making you look really like a hot head and driving folks away from you
REAL TALK!
nrg
- Jun 20, 2008 03:48am by AceFadal - [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]~means To learn by doing
www.dipity.com/acefadal
WE ARE, Kansas City is [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]!
http://crushproofstudio.bandcamp.com/ Location: Downtown, Kansas City, Mo.
Do the people in Haiti get a profit off of what you make on your t-shirts?
- Jun 20, 2008 05:11am by AceFadal - [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]~means To learn by doing
www.dipity.com/acefadal
WE ARE, Kansas City is [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]!
http://crushproofstudio.bandcamp.com/ Location: Downtown, Kansas City, Mo.
Whatever Sike.
I think you and your partner are the [u:74ba352623]only[/u:74ba352623] one who seen it that way. You walk around with that chip on your shoulder it bound to get knocked off. You didn't know that was a Meth quote? I never said Meth, I said it was Wu. who told you it was Meth? Just like you didn't know. I didn;t know. I never said anything about any race, religion, or any of that I just posted pictures. Shit I wish I could have found little clan babies, you probably would have found something in that.
If I coulda found a Blackwater baby it would have been that.
You sound as ignorant as the people who cry about images of Mohammed, being made fun of.
It your attempt to twist my words or pictures, you fail to answer the real questions I pose.
I will be the bigger man though. Im sorry if I offended,
you or your girl, or anyone else here. I'm sorry if real pictures of true things that exist offend you. I see and hear shit like that everyday. I don't fall apart. You want your eyes to be protected from things like that. But you make shirts with Violence happening all over it.
You sound as silly as the lady who told me My Ces Cru shirt was offensive because it had what looked like blood on the back. That shirt could easily be interpreted portraying images of terrorist, or terroristic acts. Conflicted Interest states, that you condone the violence, guns, tank, and war.
If someone from here posted pictures of the Klan, Persian Blue (look it up), or a noose. I wouldn't be offended. Especially if they were trying to prove a point. Get over yourself.
Admit you only care about a profit, not about the people.
Stay the same. I don't expect how you expect people to change if you continue to be ignorant.
Change comes from within.
Again I ask.
Do the people in Haiti get a profit off of what you make on your t-shirts?
Have your bling!
Heres a story for you. Man connected with album criticizing actions in Tienanmen square, sells shirts made in Haiti.
Sounds like a story for the Pitch.
I have'nt been here on this site lately, because the other sites I've been on, talk about real issues like this, but the convo is adult. Peoples feelings don't get hurt over a b.s. picture. People say worse and post way worst things then I've ever said, and the whole forum will agree or not agree if its wrong.
Nigga you know me. If you think I said something out of place then correct me but you have no right to attack me.
If you can't say what you really feel, to your "people", who can you say real shit too. I would never go on an another site,and spew comments, know, or unknown, anonymous or not. I came with real questions and you turned it into a race thing. You are an immature individual, and you were probably provoked. 🙄 um hum someone.
Necia I'm sorry if I hurt you here.
I wasn't making a threat about the shirts. It is something I am considering.
I just don't feel like I should post here anymore. Its been better for me not posting. I get more done. and This really bothered me all day. A simple convo turns sour because dude wants to try and prove a point.
Totally took my words out of context.
I've had discussions about deeper issues than this on other sites with worse pictures, deeper quotes, and hot links. But it seems like simple minded, people that think they run things, and like to do things that hold Kansas City back. we could be so much better, we could be the change Hip Hop needs. However, instead of changing it, My people keep running it into the ground.
I don't care about networking, If have to work with shallow people. I don't make music for nobody that wants to degrade themselves, women, any race, or my culture. I despise words like F*g, a word coined by Hitler, I hate the word, retarded. It offends me when someone says, "thats gay."
I don't play.
I'm the least anti-Jew, shit I was invited to my first Bah Mitzvah next week. This will be a great thread to bring up. Let my Jewish friends see how anti-semetic I am. Even They think you blew this out of porportion, took the pictures out of context. they ask me if I know you. I say yea, then they agree, your just petty and immature. Especially since we know each other. we may not be friends, but if what I posted offended you, you could've pmd me and asked me to take it off. But you chise to try to make me look bad. and if thats the way you want to operate, well at least I know. I know people who know you well, H.S. buddy type shit, so I have a little insight on the real you. 😉
If you all everyone wants to do is sit around and play err tings okay, be my guest. but you will have to do it without me. Thats why they call us shiftless and shade tree. Just sit there and relax. Everything will be OOOTAY!
The world has been complacent way too long, just letting shit go on and on. I was trying to say you have the power to make change Sike, but your just too weak and profit is more important to you than people.
F*ck kicks, f*ck bling, f*ck your 22 inch rims. F*ck Nike. I want a soul.
Its like you are one of those people who watched the Boondocks episode of the Itist, and was feining for a bucket of KFC the whole time. Tons on people watched it, got it and still gorge at every funeral, graduation, wedding, or celebrating when JuneBug got out of jail.
YOU JUST DON'T GET IT.
Assalamu Alaikum!
Oh right Im soooo sorry. I meant Shalom, I don't want to be seen as being......
Nigga slaves are wrong, but Asian Slaves are not wrong. Some people think the same way about how the pyramids got built. They enjoy Cairo, while they say, "Ha Ha, Its a good thing slave labor was around then too, huh?"
whatever 🙁 🙁 🙁
Im so disappointed in this site. Bill Maher was right.
Nobody in America stands up for what they believe in. And are too coward to die for it. well I feel like I'm dying from this site. ahh martyrdom
What do you believe in?
- Jun 20, 2008 05:41am by NRG - livin the art that is life !
www.64111clinic.com fam
www.nrginmotion.com massage
www.myspace.com/nrginmotion world community Location: havenhouse KCK/ 64111 Clinic 4 Life
I'm disappointed in your need to attack what does not mirror you. so I say to you, whatever you think is best for you ace. no more discussion from me.
your choice
peace to you
nrg
- Jun 20, 2008 07:07am by AceFadal - [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]~means To learn by doing
www.dipity.com/acefadal
WE ARE, Kansas City is [b:353f9d151d]k[/b:353f9d151d]inestheti[b:353f9d151d]C[/b:353f9d151d]!
http://crushproofstudio.bandcamp.com/ Location: Downtown, Kansas City, Mo.
sorry girl.
Tolerance
Humbleness,
in the shadows
- Jun 20, 2008 11:48am by trystyl - www.myspace.com/trystyl Location: KCMO
[quote:9997f66e46="AceFadal"]
Heres a story for you. Man connected with album criticizing actions in Tienanmen square, sells shirts made in Haiti.
Sounds like a story for the Pitch.
[/quote:9997f66e46]
burn.
- Jun 20, 2008 03:46pm by nadia
It's Prussian Blue. Fyi.
- Jun 20, 2008 03:51pm by nadia
It's Prussian Blue. Fyi.
"Persian Blue" is probably a club of cat lovers in Lee's Summit. Lol.
You guys are talking nonsense.
You know what sounds like a story? How this board is completely full of shit and Ace Fadal always has some issue with someone and posts idiotic rants.
- Jun 20, 2008 06:21pm by trystyl - www.myspace.com/trystyl Location: KCMO
[quote:15d00582a7="nadia"]
You know what sounds like a story? How this board is completely full of shit and Ace Fadal always has some issue with someone and posts idiotic rants.[/quote:15d00582a7]
double burn.
- Jun 20, 2008 08:18pm by beatbroker - -beatbroker
HHA/Symbol Heavy/IN crew Location: KCMO
fuck.
what have i been doing with my life?
thanks ace.
- Jun 21, 2008 01:17am by trystyl - www.myspace.com/trystyl Location: KCMO
[quote:87186f6fc9="beatbroker"]fuck.
what have i been doing with my life?
thanks ace.[/quote:87186f6fc9]
triple burn.
- Jun 21, 2008 01:55am by 1Sh1Da - http://www.myspace.com/sangrealnation
1Sh1Da, Elysium ... we are Hip-Hop
http://crushproofstudio.bandcamp.com
1Sh1Da & Ace Fadal present 4 Tha Nation Location: Kansas City, Missouri
My 2 cents:
Fuck Wal-Mart
