D'oh!

A month ago as discussed throughout the blogosphere (here included), Nike pulled ads were considered homophopic by the Human Rights Coalition. Though you'll still catch some the ads in some bus canopies and phone booths, the sneaker behemouth felt that keeping the campaign going was not worth another public relations nightmare as international labor law controversy still brews.

Now, their Converse division had to go even further by pulling actual product.

As reported today, the brand of Chuck Taylor and Dr. J decided to take these sneakers off of the shelves because of an investigation by Baltimore's ABC affiliate station.

 

These sneakers come in only two colors (red and blue) and adorn bandanas. The investigation tipped its hand in saying that the sneakers were targeted towards gang members, most notably the Bloods and Crips.

Converse might as well have painted a red-and-blue target on their headquarters.

It's very easy to call this an overreaction by the company; an action thatcould not only hurts the bottom line for a brief moment, but shows that "professional offenders" wield an extraordinary power and can pick off anyone at will. Whether it's an organization or in this case, a media outlet, if someone has a pressing issue that resonates with a significant group of people along with a loud enough voice, they can force an actual change in Corporate America.

That said, a few people in the design, marketing, research & development and public relations departments must have thought that no one would have made the connection. While it's hard to really believe that a shoe company would overtly target groups of illegal activity to pedal some kicks, to come to this point means that they underestimated the issues of gang activity in many communities and the marketing awareness of consumers. After all, despite the fact that these sneakers were intended to be 'feminine and playful', rolling out two styles in these colors - for better or worse - will set off the minds of concerned parents whose kids are at least in plain view of these gangs.

Maybe they should swap emails with executives at New Era and Major League Baseball as they have been dealing with a similar issue: various gangs adopting sports insignia and/or wearing certain color caps to rep their sets.

Or maybe out of spite, they'll end up creating entire outfits tailor-made for gangbangers.

Gangbanging

Gangbanging isn’t just a term describing an illicit form of sex. It’s used just as openly, if not more, to describe the activity of criminal organizations. It has deep roots in human history, notably anywhere that a clash of socioeconomic classes exists, though it should not be an excuse for abhorrent behavior.

Why bring this up?

An overlooked sports story from late December crept into the consciousness earlier this afternoon. While reading current local news in the New York Times, a story on its City Room blog delved into the absence of Major League Baseball representatives in a City Council hearing on gang symbols. Local, state and federal authorities have spent millions of dollars and thousands of (wo)man hours trying to not only combat gang activity, but to at least identify gang members. At least here in the States, many gangs are known to use specific colors to identify themselves. Many take it further by actually adopting mainstream insignia to brand themselves. And who better to use than sports organizations that publicly brandish their team logos, colors and locations?

So, why baseball?

Baseball has made quite a pretty penny in the past decade off of merchandising. Though all sports can make this claim, baseball is the lone sport in which caps, not jerseys or t-shirts, are a leading choice of showing team allegiances for many fans. While hats have always been a major seller for baseball, the last decade evidenced an increased the likes it has never seen before thanks to the more stylish and/or fashionable options available. Instead of donning the traditional team colors, you can buy a hat of a completely unrelated color scheme or with customization. Long gone are the days in which you will see only the red cap for the St. Louis Cardinals.

The most obvious benefactor of this financial windfall outside of the individual teams is the Buffalo-based New Era Cap Company. New Era is baseball’s officially-licensed cap manufacturer and makes the hats of varied colors and designs. The company was also invited to speak at this hearing, yet did not send a representative of the company, opting rather to send a spokesman from their public relations company.

It seems as if this may just be an issue raised in the Five Boroughs alone or just a handful of politicos trying to make a fuss, yet it’s not something to take very lightly. This issue begs several important questions:

First, while the league may have not intended to license mass production of these caps (or even their traditional merchandise) for the Latin Kings, Bloods or Crips, do they have actual responsibility for these sales?

Second, do they have the ability to stop or at least slow merchandise to these groups?

Third, can government intervention play a role in this commerce? While it is probably more important to ask the question of ‘should’, the city government is taking on a problem that directly affects the quality of life for sections of society at-large.

Fourth, considering how cultural trends begin from a few, did the popularity start from these gangs? Easy to doubt, but still…

Finally, will the City Council or another metropolitan area with similar issues try to gain the attention of baseball and New Era?

In fairness, baseball had its own internal crisis to deal with as the league prepared for the results of Senator George Mitchell's now-infamous investigation. Yet, which may have more of a social importance to you?

A handful of elite athletes being rumored to have taken performance enhancers or a greater number of undisciplined minors deciding to ‘loc up’ in full regalia?