The harsh reality of the ultra commercialized NCAA men’s
college basketball tournament was made evident after the tragic
“Theismann-like” injury Kevin Ware incurred during the elite game between the
Louisville Cardinals and the Duke Blue Devils.
The 6’2” guard for the Cardinals broke his leg with 6:33 remaining in
the game. While his leg was being reset
and cast for recovery, Adidas executives came up with the bright ideas of
creating a t-shirt, supposedly in “support of” or “in tribute” to Ware’s
injury. Thus, for $24.99, you could pay
tribute and show your support to Ware by purchasing a “Ri5e to the Occasion”
t-shirt; with his number (#5) on the back.
Fortunately, there was an outcry on social media against
this unwise profiteering. Adidas pulled
the t-shirts from the shelves, but unfortunately, it was not due to the outcry
on social media or recognizing their corporate irresponsibility, but the
t-shirts were discontinued because of an issue with the logo.
Can you imagine; within a tournament that generates 90% of
the NCAA annual revenue, this multinational corporation, Adidas, seeks to
profit even more off of the talents of athlete-students, and in this case, the
misfortune of this athlete-student’s injury.
I was alarmed to see how many individuals outfitted in this
t-shirt during the Louisville vs Wichita State game. Were these consumers blind to the emotional
tactics of these corporate profiteers, where you tie a product to a cause and
sell it? Was there anyone in the Adidas
boardroom, during the crafting of this idea, who stood in opposition to this
project? I hate to think that this Ware-tribute
project was not fast-tracked without one soul saying, “ wait a minute, are we
being corporately responsible” or “are we fiscally desperate where we need to
profit from the pain of an innocent victim?” Was there an outcry in the boardroom to the
blatant corporate greed evident in this venture?
Although it is a lofty idea to think that there would be an internal
outcry within the Adidas organization, and I am to see the response on social
media. Individuals asking, “where is the
money going,” and questioning this corporate practice. As consumers, the use of social media is
important medium for expressing discontent to corporate irresponsibleness, and it
is more appropriate to use our dollars make a stand against corporate greed and
their insensitive profiteering. If multinational
corporations cannot be governed by their morality or the need to be socially
and corporately responsible, then it is only appropriate that we awaken from
our unconscious consumption and use our dollars to make a difference.
