With its slogan “Just do it!” clearly applying as much to wallet-opening as sports, Nike, Inc. is taking a kick in the gym shorts from several Detroit-area youth organizations riled by the sky-high price tag attached to the new $200 Air Jordan XVII athletic shoe.
“This is just a great way for Nike to push the envelope, as well as push their way into our wallets,” said Dennis Talbert, a youth ministries pastor at Rosedale Park Baptist Church in Detroit. “We are urging people not to purchase these shoes until the price is dropped by $100. We have enough kids out there who are already killing each other over a pair of gym shoes.”
The high-tech sneakers come encased in a metal briefcase and are accompanied by a CD-ROM explaining how to use the shoes. (All that childhood time spent learning how to tie our shoes was apparently wasted.) Talbert and fellow youth advocates have formed a grassroots campaign called “Enough is Enough.” They’re issuing e-mails urging everyone to put the kibosh on this overmarketed footwear. News Hits, which is still wrestling with the madness of $100 tennies, offers Talbert and his cohorts our best wishes in their attempts to help Mike Jordan see the Air-orr of his ways.
Tracy Minnis is an editorial intern at Metro Times. E-mail [email protected]
