On July 1st 2011, it was reported that Nike had signed Michael Vick to endorse its products.
In 2007, when Nike first dropped Vick, Nike issued the following statement: “we consider any cruelty to animals inhumane and abhorrent.”
Now that it’s 2011, I guess things are somehow different for Nike.
Michael Vick didn’t just kill dogs, he killed them brutally. He electrocuted them (some reports indicate that he attached jumper cables to the dogs’ ears and then threw them into a pool), hung them and drowned them. There were also undisputed reports that he and his colleague killed dogs by slamming them repeatedly into the ground — Michael grabbed the dog’s front legs, his colleague grabbed the dog’s hind legs, and together, the two men swung the dog over their heads like a jump rope and slammed the dog into the ground. When the dog did not die, they continued slamming him into the ground until at last, the little red dog was dead. Is this Nike’s idea of a role model?
Reports also indicated that Vick put ‘family pets’ into the ring with the trained fighting dogs because he thought it was “funny” to watch. In dog fighting, bait dogs are often muzzled and thrown into the ring, making them completely defenseless as the fighting dogs attack them. Some fighting dogs have their teeth filed into points, and some females have their teeth removed altogether when they are used as bait dogs, so as not to injure prized male fighting dogs. Is this Nike’s idea of a role model?
But Vick was more than just some lowly dogfighter, performing many of these acts hands-on. Even worse, he bankrolled these dogfighting operations, helping see to it that his Bad Newz Kennels and this regime of abuse and illegal operations would continue and grow. Is this Nike’s idea of a role model?
A prominent animal rescue in Utah, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, has said that Vick’s dogs are the most emotionally and physically abused dogs they have seen. Many of the dogs are still recuperating and being rehabilitated, and individuals involved in this process have said that it’s clear that Michael Vick “went to a lot of trouble to make the dogs this way”. What kind of man gets empowerment from mutilating, terrorizing, beating and electrocuting dogs until they are emotionally and physically destroyed? Is this Nike’s idea of a role model?
Michael Vick’s actions are deplorable, and his acts of “redemption” are little more than staged PR stunts. His remorse has been inauthentic. Many people agree that not only were his actions evil, but his intentions as well. He quit his dogfighting ring because the law made him do so, and if he had not been caught, it’s not hard to believe that he would still be doing it now. Is this Nike’s idea of a role model?
Nike, do you think parents want their children to see Vick as a role model?
Let the Nike boycott begin.
More info to come.
Facebook Fan Pages:
No to Nike and Vick http://www.facebook.com/notonike
Boycott Nike for Signing Michael Vick http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-Nike-for-Signing-Michael-Vick/23331789002611
Pictured here is Gypsy, one of Michael Vick’s dogs that was used as a bait dog. Somebody found Gyspsy discarded on the street and brought her to medical care. Gypsy died of her injuries shortly afterwards. Click on this image to download this image and share with your friends. Permission to crosspost and share.
What you can do
Boycott Nike.
Contact the officials at Nike. Send them your unwanted Nike merchandise and pictures of your Nike merchandise in the garbage.
Call Nike: 800-344-6453. Choose option 5, then option 9.
Email to Nike is media.relations@nike.com
Nike USA Inc.
Consumer Services
One Bowerman Drive
Beaverton, OR 97005-6453
PERMISSION TO CROSSPOST AND SHARE
