Nike Outsourcing
...low. This has forced all other countries to follow and disclose all information regarding their manufacturing practices. It is undeniable that Nike employed questionable business practices in its international productions. However, a dispute exists between the clearly unethical sweatshop employment practices and the obscurely misdirected advertising campaigns and slogans. For example, Nike’s 1996 Olympic slogan “You don’t win silver, you lose gold” can easily be misinterpreted as offensive and demeaning to any athlete who achieves anything less than perfection, a gold medal. While this slogan can be potentially belittling to one type of person, the same slogan can provide self-assurance to another person to achieve their maximum potential. More clearly defined were the unethical practices of the sweatshops in third-world countries. Nike factories were compared to prison camps and were accused of humiliating and mistreating their laborers. Accused practices included limiting drinks and bathroom breaks, providing substandard wage compensations, poor factory conditions, and physical abuse such as a process called sun-drying, in which the laborer is forced to stand in the hot sun for a long period of time writing his/her mistake over and over again. As mentioned, Nike’s response to these criticisms included the participation in the formation of the FLA and the production of audited reports concerning its employment practices. Prior to that, in 1991, Nike drafted a code of conduct, which was distributed to all factories by 1992 as a first step in the effort to improve working conditions in factories. In conjunction with the codes, Nike should monitor the factories and the activity of their managers to ensure proper execution of the newly distributed codes. Not only were human rights groups concerned with the deontological status of Nike’s business practices; co...