Alexa Silva

11/12/17
Writ 106
Prof. Liao
Ethics Event Reflection

After attending the Ethics Events “Behind The Swoosh”, I no longer want to support

Nike based on the issue surrounding Nike sweatshops in Indonsia. I have spent a lot of money on

Nike clothing and sneakers so I’m unhappy knowing that I have been supporting people working

in Nike’s sweatshops and living a life that is not ideal for any human being. I also dislike how

Nike wastes so many of their products and disposes of them in ways that are toxic and in no way

green. I believe that every person who stands up against Nike makes a difference, no matter how

small, so my participation in this can contribute to promoting change. However, not enough

people know about what goes on behind the scenes of Nike’s products being produced and Jim

Keady’s presentations on this topic can only reach so many people. I will make an effort to tell

the people I know about this issue and try to avoid buying Nike’s products. It is difficult to look

at the Nike clothes that I currently own and think about the person who made these clothes. This

individual along with every other Nike Sweatshop worker is not living an ideal life at all and are

not being paid nearly enough to support themselves or their families. This is occurring every day

in Indonesia as I comfortably live at home and am okay with pay an excessive price for a

sweatshirt. I am unsure if I will avoid doing that for the rest of my life because there is a chance

the company could change how they operate and their working conditions for the better. In order

for this issue with Nike sweatshops in Indonesia to be resolved or changed in this way, there has

to be enough people that are made aware of this situation and will speak up against it so that

Nike has to address this issue. Nike will have to choose how to make progress on it’s own terms,
but there is no doubt in my mind that we need to demand and witness a change in this company’s

values as a whole.

In regards to Universities that use Nike products for their apparel, I doubt that any

University will hear about this issue and cut ties with Nike right away. There needs to be a mass

amount of student’s contribution to push Universities towards doing this. Nike is clearly a

popular brand and almost any college student has knowledge about them or wears products from

them. Therefore, Universities make a better profit from representing Nike with their apparel than

they would if their apparel represented a small and not so well-known brand. Universities have

to consider whether profit or ethical reasoning is more important to them. Ethics is super

important in teaching so this could be an argument that encourages universities to support this

change. If more people were educated on the issue and were protesting Nike than the amount of

people buying Nike products, Universities would take notice and there would most likely be a

decrease in the number of Universities partnering with Nike.

Bryant University has athletes wear Adidas and this brand has sweatshops, too.

Therefore, if this University is willing to have a presentation on the Nike sweatshops that

freshmen are required to attend, it is making itself look bad. Now, we all know from that

presentation that the issue surrounding sweatshops also exists with Adidas so I wonder, does

Bryant University plan to cut ties with Adidas in the near future? I am not trying to say anything

negative about Bryant University's relationship with Adidas, however, the benefits of that

relationship must outweigh the negatives that do not directly impact it if there is still a

relationship between the two.