Non sports nerds take note: The “Boston Massacre” phrase has been used to describe a late-season sweep by the Yankees of the rival Boston Red Sox in 1978. That season culminated in a World Series championship for the Yankees.
This is what the Nike shirt referred to, but in light of the Boston Bombings and following intense manhunt, a blood splattered shirt seems a bit morbid and in bad taste. Just to show how quick a brand can react, Nike has pulled the shirts from their online stores and are recalling them from all physical locations as we speak. They took immediate action last week, right after the marathon, to remove the product.
ESPN’s Darren Rovell tweeted the news a few hours ago:
Nike says "Boston Massacre" shirt, which it pulled from stores, was not made recently sprts.bz/Y0spIf
— darren rovell (@darrenrovell) April 22, 2013
“We conducted this process as quickly as possible and are confident the product has been removed from distribution,” Nike spokeswoman Mary Remuzzi said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.
And that, my friends, is how you keep a brand's reputation in check. This isn't the first time Nike had to recall shirts that were in bad taste, remember the "Gold digging" shirts to celebrate the accomplishments of the strong female athletes in the Olympics. Uh-huh. They know what they're doing and they have known this since "Fuck gravity", which IMHO is the only shirt that worked well.
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Being aware of a pivotal moment of violence that contributed to the American revolution does not qualify one as a nerd. That's being informed.
And this is a joke. Nike expects Americans to maturely accept the absurd price tag on the new Lebrons, but assumes that these same Americans would be offended by the message on a tee shirt and conclude that Nike made the shirt to mock the victims of the recent Boston bombings. It's scary, but maybe they're right on both...
And if you're concerned about people potentially misinterpreting you message, don't put blood on the lettering!
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