Atelier 4, article 4


© Nation Online Beat :
(from the Nation Magazine, February 26, 2001)

 Online Beat: Wondering what this is all about?
 

                    "Not Marc RICH enough"

  The official line in the entertainment industry is that American
  television viewers hate it when celebrities use appearances
  on music and film award programs to tout their political
  views. Of course, this is a line of bull. Even the most vapid
  statement of conscience is a thousand times more engaging than the
  pathetic renderings of scripted introductions and acceptance speeches
  that turn the Grammy and Academy Award shows into pastiches of
  awkward silence, inarticulate mumbles and giggling.

  Still, prominent actors and singers -- many of them veteran activists --
  face immense pressure to keep quiet about anything more controversial
  than the cut of Toni Braxton's dress. Performers who break the code
  of silence, such as Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, can recount that
  battering that befalls those who dare leven award-show fluff with a few
  grams of moral outrage.

  Against the pressure to shut-up-and-look-pretty, it is the rare artist
  who actually stirs the pot. That's why Robbie Robertson's primetime
  appearance at last week's Grammy Awards ceremony was such a
  refreshing break with boring convention.

  Robertson, the dynamic force behind The Band, guitarist for Bob
  Dylan, and brilliant solo artist, was not accepting an award. Rather, he
  was a presenter in a category dear to his heart. The son of a Jewish
  father and Mohawk mother, Robertson has long advocated for a
  Grammy category honoring Native American music; and he was asked
  Wednesday night to present the first such award to Tom Bee and
  Douglas Spotted Eagle for their production of the drum-group
  complilation, "Gathering of Nations Pow Wow."

  After greeting "all First Nations," Robertson explained the long struggle
  to win official recognition for the music of indigenous peoples. Noting
  that many other barriers to Native peoples remain, he then offered the
  night's most biting political statement.

  Robertson reminded the Grammy crowd and the television audience
  beyond that President Clinton had failed to respond to the international
  movement seeking a pardon for jailed American Indian Movement
  activist Leonard Peltier -- who contributed vocals to a track on
  Robertson's groundbreaking CD, "Contact From the Underworld of
  Redboy." "We haven't got freedom for Leonard Peltier," Robertson
  said. "Maybe he's not Marc RICH enough."

  The evening's only reference to Clinton constroversial pardon of
  fugitive financier Marc Rich drew no notice in the lavish press coverage
  of the Grammy Awards. But tens of millions of people in the U.S. and
  around the world were alerted to the ongoing campaign to free Peltier.

  Other performers saw the Grammy Awards ceremony as an
  opportunity to sell records. Robbie Robertson recognized it as
  something more: A unique forum in which to advance the cause of
  justice. Displaying the foresight and the courage that has for more than
  35 year marked him as a uniquely vital artist, Robertson threw away
  the script and seized the opportunity.
 

  The George Orwell Corporate Speech Award: Nike Division
                                        February 22, 2001

  The Nike tennis shoe congomerate -- seeking to forge ,ore
  intimate relations with its customers -- now allows buyers of
  their expensive footwear to "personalize" new shoes by
  submitting a word or phrase that can be stitched onto the
  sneakers, right beneath the corporate swoosh.

  MIT graduate student Jonah Peretti attempted to take the company up
  on its "offer." He filled out the form and sent Nike $50 to stitch the
  word "sweatshop" onto his shoes.

  Peretti's email "dialogue" with the company -- a remarkable document
  of corporate communication -- follows:
 

  From: "Personalize, NIKE iD"

  To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'"

  Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

  Your NIKE iD order was cancelled for one or more of the following
  reasons:

  1) Your Personal iD contains another party's trademark or other
  intellectual property

  2) Your Personal iD contains the name of an athlete or team we do not
  have the legal right to use

  3) Your Personal iD was left blank. Did you not want any
  personalization?

  4) Your Personal iD contains profanity or inappropriate slang, and
  besides, your mother would slap us.

  If you wish to reorder your NIKE iD product with a new
  personalization please visit us again at www.nike.com

  Thank you, NIKE iD
 

  From: "Jonah H. Peretti"

  To: "Personalize, NIKE iD"

  Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

  Greetings, My order was canceled but my personal NIKE iD does not
  violate any of the criteria outlined in your message. The Personal iD on
  my custom ZOOM XC USA running shoes was the word
  "sweatshop." Sweatshop is not:

  1) another's party's trademark,

  2) the name of an athlete,

  3) blank, or

  4) profanity.

  I choose the iD because I wanted to remember the toil and labor of the
  children that made my shoes. Could you please ship them to me
  immediately. Thanks and Happy New Year, Jonah Peretti
 

  From: "Personalize, NIKE iD"

  To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'"

  Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

  Dear NIKE iD Customer, Your NIKE iD order was cancelled
  because the iD you have chosen contains, as stated in the previous
  e-mail correspondence, "inappropriate slang". If you wish to reorder
  your NIKE iD product with a new personalization please visit us again
  at nike.com

  Thank you, NIKE iD
 

  From: "Jonah H. Peretti"

  To: "Personalize, NIKE iD"

  Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

  Dear NIKE iD, Thank you for your quick response to my inquiry
  about my custom ZOOM XC USA running shoes. Although I
  commend you for your prompt customer service, I disagree with the
  claim that my personal iD was inappropriate slang. After consulting
  Webster's Dictionary, I discovered that "sweatshop" is in fact part of
  standard English, and not slang. The word means: "a shop or factory in
  which workers are employed for long hours at low wages and under
  unhealthy conditions" and its origin dates from 1892. So my personal
  iD does meet the criteria detailed in your first email. Your web site
  advertises that the NIKE iD program is "about freedom to choose and
  freedom to express who you are." I share Nike's love of freedom and
  personal expression. The site also says that "If you want it done
  right...build it yourself." I was thrilled to be able to build my own shoes,
  and my personal iD was offered as a small token of appreciation for
  the sweatshop workers poised to help me realize my vision. I hope that
  you will value my freedom of expression and reconsider your decision
  to reject my order.

  Thank you, Jonah Peretti
 

  From: "Personalize, NIKE iD"

  To: "'Jonah H. Peretti'"

  Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

  Dear NIKE iD Customer, Regarding the rules for personalization it
  also states on the NIKE iD web site that "Nike reserves the right to
  cancel any personal iD up to 24 hours after it has been submitted". In
  addition, it further explains: "While we honor most personal iDs, we
  cannot honor every one. Some may be (or contain) other's trademarks,
  or the names of certain professional sports teams, athletes or celebrities
  that Nike does not have the right to use. Others may contain material
  that we consider inappropriate or simply do not want to place on our
  products. Unfortunately, at times this obliges us to decline personal iDs
  that may otherwise seem unobjectionable. In any event, we will let you
  know if we decline your personal iD, and we will offer you the chance
  to submit another." With these rules in mind, we cannot accept your
  order as submitted. If you wish to reorder your NIKE iD product with
  a new personalization please visit us again at www.nike.com

  Thank you, NIKE iD
 

  From: "Jonah H. Peretti"

  To: "Personalize, NIKE iD"

  Subject: RE: Your NIKE iD order o16468000

  Dear NIKE iD, Thank you for the time and energy you have spent on
  my request. I have decided to order the shoes with a different iD, but I
  would like to make one small request. Could you please send me a
  color snapshot of the ten-year-old Vietnamese girl who makes my
  shoes?

  Thanks,

  Jonah Peretti

Retour