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NIKE'S EDGY ADVERTISING AGAIN DEEMED OFFENSIVE BY SOME

          Nike has "pulled" a magazine ad campaign, via Wieden &
     Kennedy (W&K), for its ACG Air Dri-Goat trail running shoe
     "after disabilities-rights groups claimed the ads were
     offensive," according to Ann Grimes of the WALL STREET
     JOURNAL, who notes the ads appeared in several national and
     nine regional outdoor magazines and "referred to people with
     disabilities as 'drooling and misshapen.'"  Copy from one ad
     reads, "Right about now you're probably asking yourself,
     'How can a trail running shoe with an outer sole designed
     like a goat's hoof help me avoid compressing my spinal cord
     into a Slinky on the side of some unsuspecting conifer. 
     Thereby rendering me a drooling, misshapen non-extreme-trail
     running husk of my former self.  Forced to roam the earth in
     a motorized wheelchair with my name, embossed on one of
     those cute little license plates you get at carnivals or
     state fairs, fastened to the back?'"  In a statement, Nike
     Dir of U.S. Communications Lee Weinstein said, "We feel just
     horrible about this ad.  Clearly, disabilities of any form
     are no laughing matter and that paragraph should not have
     been included in the ad."  Nike added that the ad was
     "intended to show how the right equipment can prevent
     injuries."  W&K CEO Dan Wieden also apologized: "We have
     stepped over the line with this advertisement and there is
     no excuse for it" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/26).  In
     Portland, Boaz Herzog cites Weinstein as saying that "about
     600 people had called or e-mailed the company to complain"
     about the ad.  Weinstein added that "ironically," Nike is
     "celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month"
     (Portland OREGONIAN, 10/26).  In Edmonton, Dan Palmer
     reports that Dick Sobsey, whose 10-year-old son has cerebral
     palsy and has a pair of Nike shoes, "may boycott Nike
     products if its public apology ... isn't good enough." 
     Sobsey: "I felt betrayed and guilty that I bought [Nike
     shoes] for my kid" (EDMONTON SUN, 10/26).
             

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