A Nike spokesman emailed me the following statement today about the company's "State of Confusion" T-shirt, which mixed up N.C. and S.C.: “A small quantity of incorrect Carolina Panthers tee shirts were recently made available for sale. This product should not have been sold. We have removed it from sale and apologize for the error.”
The statement doesn’t address who was responsible for this error or tell what the "small number" was. But I do give Nike credit for not simply ignoring the mistake completely – which was first reported in the “Scott Says” blog on Friday. (I began asking Nike for comment on the shirt last Thursday).
To back up for those who missed the original story: alert reader Les Hall of Charlotte saw the T-shirt listed on Nike’s website. It was geographically challenged to say the least – there’s a picture of a Panther logo, but it rests atop the shape of South Carolina. Then in the top left corner of the S.C. silhouette there are the state initials “NC.” It looked like Nike, the NFL’s official uniform supplier, believes Charlotte is in South Carolina.
For a kick, Hall (who went to Clemson) ordered the shirt anyway, paying $32 for it. It arrived at his house Friday. He told me about it before that, and I started researching what happened. Nike since took the shirt off its website and it is no longer available for sale, for all those who have asked (and there have been many of you).
I posted the original blog item on Friday and a follow-up in the newspaper on Sunday, reporting that Hall had received the shirt. Given that this is a slow time of year for the NFL, the news then went all over the place, from the home page of CBSSports.com to ESPN to all over Twitter. Of the more than 1500 items I have posted on the “Scott Says” blog over the years, that original post now ranks No.3 in total number of hits.
And Hall undoubtedly has secured himself a collector’s item – one likely worth far more than the $32 he paid for it.
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14 comments:
Maybe The Observer should apologize for its unrelenting butchering of the English language. There is only one Nike. It should be Nike apologizes for "its" so and so, not "their." Small thing, for sure. But it's repeated a dozen times a day in The Observer, along with a dozen other common but equally grade-school variety errors.
At least they responded. Most companies just ignore things like this.
Considereing the actions of our current Republican Legislature, they're actually not so far off.
I really want one of these!! Is it really not possible to buy one?
Being that I'm a Panthers fan from South Carolina, I want one too!
Anon at 3:55, no the outline of the state on the shirt would then be Mississippi.
to blockhead: we all appreciate your help! maybe you should use a question mark to end your sentence that starts with the word maybe? if you follow "its" with a "so and so", then i also believe you should follow "their" with a "so and so". i believe you should include a hyphen between school and variety, so that it reads: grade-school-variety. small thing, for sure. btw, i am no grammarian, so no offense taken for those who correct my use of punctuation next to the " symbol or anything else.
Scott; This is simple! The history is that since Charlotte is on the border of SC, and the name is "Carolina" Panthers, then both states can call the team their own. Thusly, the shape of the first logo is shaped like both states! The shirt was trying to exemplify that fact, if only they had put SC at the bottom and left the logo where it was, it would be correct. Superfan, TheCatman HOF 2004, PSL Owner since 1993! www.TheRealCatman.com
NC...We Like It On Top!
Not sure what the point of the shirt was going to be anyway.
The Redskins t-shirt have a map of DC on it or did they misplace it in Delaware?
Nike needs to stick to making really garish, ugly uniforms.
"speaking" of incorrect grammar, as per contributor "Blockhead's" initial comment -- he, too, has a technical issue by anthropomorphizing Nike, noting "Nike apologizes" -- Nike does not, in fact, but it is corporate officials who apologize on behalf of a oorporation -- a company/logo is inanimate and does not have the capability ...
@Greg Catman,
That is clearly SC only. Not both states together.
Hi, anonymous 8:58 a.m. I'm delighted somebody else cares! You're exactly right. If I were writing it, I'd say "Nike officials apologized." But believe it or not, I'm not a grammar Nazi. It's only the outrageous sixth-grader mistakes like, in this case, "their" when it should be "its" that bug me. (The preceding sentence has a major error, if you want to be a stickler - I don't). Buzz and fad words rankle me, too. I'll bet you'll find a half-dozen in today's Observer if you look closely, such as "gone missing," when the writer means disappeared; "graduated high school" or whatever, omitting "from"; "advocated for," a silly redundancy (as a verb, to advocate is, by definition work for, or speak in favor of something); and the latest (I've seen this three times in the last two days) "gobsmacked," to mean astonished or surprised. Thanks for your note. But I fear it's hopeless.
McCrory and the GOP Senate and Legislature are doing their best to turn NC into SC, so maybe the shirts should stay as a reminder.
Next they'll want the stars and bars flying over Raleigh.
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