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This time, El American’s Idiot of the Week award goes to the apparent former American company Nike, for the declarations of its CEO John Donahoe who has said, according to the BBC, that “Nike is a brand from China and for China”.
We were under the impression that Nike was founded in 1964 in Oregon, United States. However, in an attempt to rewrite history, Nike seems to be a Chinese brand.
Perhaps it is that Nike perceives itself as Chinese, despite having been born in the United States, or perhaps we are facing a new lowering of pants before the Communist Party of China (CCP) by an American company.
Especially since Hollywood has accustomed us to this type of genuflection before the Chinese communist regime. In fact, we have recently seen one of the protagonists of Fast & Furious 9 —John Cena — bend his neck before China and apologize, unfortunately, for having said that Taiwan is a country.
We have also seen major Hollywood productions remove references to Tibet or Taiwan from their films because China threatened to prevent release in its territory.
Although the latest statements by Nike’s CEO are shocking, this is not the first time this company has humiliated itself before the Chinese communists for a handful of dollars -or yuan-.
Other times when Nike was China’s idiot
In October 2019, when NBA Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey supported the Hong Kong protesters, Nike decided to side with China and turn its back on the Hong Kongers and the Houston Rockets, pulling all of the Texans team’s products from Chinese stores.
The CCP, under the iron fist of Xi Jinping, is very strong and ruthless with its own people, against Hong Kongers, Tibetans, Taiwanese, Uighurs and Falun Gong, among others, but a tweet, a pair of sneakers on a shelf or a drawing of Winnie the Pooh gives them anxiety.
John Donahoe, Nike’s CEO, must have had to look pretty ugly to come out with these ridiculous statements. All this, it seems, comes after Nike issued a statement a few months ago showing some concern about the alleged use of slave labor in Xinjiang.
Although Nike swore that nothing related to its products comes from Xinjiang, the truth is that a few months earlier it had allegedly lobbied with Coca-Cola and Apple to weaken a law that sought to impose restrictions on American companies’ business with the Xinjiang region, where the Chinese regime allegedly holds the Uyghur minority enslaved.
It is clear that for the CCP it is not enough to allegedly work in the shadows of American politics and in favor of the CCP, but they require public acts of adhesion and loyalty, even if those who do so look like idiots, as Nike has done by saying that they are a company from China for China, and not American.
Ignacio Manuel García Medina, Business Management teacher. Artist and lecturer specialized in Popular Culture for various platforms. Presenter of the program "Pop Libertario" for the Juan de Mariana Institute. Lives in the Canary Islands, Spain // Ignacio M. García Medina es profesor de Gestión de Empresas. Es miembro del Instituto Juan de Mariana y conferenciante especializado en Cultura Popular e ideas de la Libertad.
Social Networks: @ignaciomgm