Nike

Must say I found the conversation interesting, but also abit of a de-ja-vous. The way our lifestyle is makes up part of the machine – if you don’t own any Nike shoes maybe you own some Converse shoes (which are owned by Nike). You may not eat Cadbury’s and you go for the more ethical looking Green & Black’s which is owned by Cadbury’s anyway. What I am trying to say is that there is no escape, but at least when it comes to a group or collective it is good to think of these issues.

Regarding Nike and London Polo… I really do not think Nike can contribute to polo’s survival as a sport. Nike is interested in a cool looking promo. It may make it a fad for a few months. That won’t make the sport sustainable. In my opinion, these big corporations just want to use polo (more underground scenes) as a platform to promote themselves. Does the polo community want to be part of selling Nike goods, and contributing in an indirect way to Nike profits? I think whatever the money payback from Nike to polo, the answer should be no.

Keep polo away from being a platform of commercialism and profits of horrible unethical corporations. This won’t save the world but at least you know that the polo association is run without a link to that.

By the way, I am not saying that I personally have an ethical way of life . I do not. But this should not be a question about individuals. It is a question about how the Polo group is run and what links it makes. (likewise this should not be a question of would this save the world... these questions just divert the attention away from the simple question of how would you like the group to run and what sort of links would you like to create? Commercial? Corporate?)