Following on from Tuesday's newsletter, the articles in the three urls below introduce a more light-hearted take on the influence of religion in the U.S. today. You may have seen the recent story about the rapper, Lil Nas X, repurposing 666 pairs of Nike shoes to promote the release of his new song, 'Montero (Call Me By Your Name).' If not, the article in the first url provides a flavor of what you missed:
"Nike has won its lawsuit against Brooklyn art collective MSCHF over their controversial 'Satan Shoes' that contain a drop of real human blood in the soles. The $1,018 (£740) trainers are modified Nike Air Max 97s that feature an inverted cross, a pentagram and the words 'Luke 10:18.' MSCHF produced the shoes in collaboration with rapper Lil Nas X. It said only 666 pairs were made and all but one have already been shipped."
Apparently, Nike was unimpressed and sued the rapper, along with the company that produced the shoes (MSCHF), for trademark infringement, claiming that consumers might be confused about Nike's involvement in the project:
"'MSCHF and its unauthorised Satan Shoes are likely to cause confusion and dilution and create an erroneous association between MSCHF's products and Nike,' the sports shoe giant said in the lawsuit. Lawyers for MSCHF countered that the 666 pairs it created were 'not typical sneakers, but rather individually-numbered works of art that were sold to collectors for $1,018 each.' Siding with Nike, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on Thursday."
The idea was quite clever, I think, and not only because the restraining order has little effect given that the company has no plans to produce any more of the shoes (and has sold all but one of the shoes it did produce). The 'stunt' is a clever play on the content of the song the shoes were tied to and the resulting video (which the article details), enhancing the message, while the subsequent 'recall' agreed to by MSCHF is essentially meaningless, given that it is voluntary (see here). The release of the shoes certainly achieved Lil Nas X's goal as the song entered the charts at No.1 soon afterwards (see here). Beyond the shock value of putting human blood in the sole of the shoes, however, there are two aspects of the story that became apparent as I discussed it with students in my Executive MBA class. First, as noted in the article in the second url below, the same company that Lil Nas X partnered with to produce the shoes, also produced some Jesus shoes in 2019 (no connection to Lil Nas X). In place of blood, the shoes that time contained "holy water" and sold for $1,425 each (but in online re-sale sites for up to $4,000), rather than the lowly sum of $1,018 for Lil Nas X's Satan shoes:
"A pair of 'Jesus Shoes' are on sale for $4,000 — and for that price, the lucky owner can literally walk on water. The shoes were designed by Brooklyn-based creative arts company MSCHF and they come with holy water in the soles. MSCHF bought a normal pair of Nike Air Max 97 sneakers at market value, the company's head of commerce, Daniel Greenberg, confirmed to CBS News. A plain pair of men's Air Max 97s go for about $160, but MSCHF completely revamped the shoe and added a golden Jesus on a crucifix as a shoelace charm. MSCHF also sourced holy water from the River Jordan, which was blessed by a priest in Brooklyn and added it to the soles of the sneaker."
Second, and perhaps most funny about the whole story, though, is that Nike did not sue the company over the Jesus shoes, while it did sue over the Satan shoes. Apparently, Nike didn't even issue a statement at the time, much to the disappointment of MSCHF, as noted in the article in the third url below:
"The sneakers quickly sold out and began appearing on resale sites, going for as much as $4,000. The Christian Post wrote about them. Drake wore them. They were among the most Googled shoes of 2019. The only thing that didn't happen, said Kevin Wiesner, 27, a creative director at MSCHF, was a public disavowal of the shoes by Nike or the Vatican. 'That would've been rad,' he said."
This produced an interesting conversation in class about the relative costs and benefits for Nike of being linked (however unwittingly) with either Jesus or Satan. While we concluded that the relative downsides of being linked to either was an interesting debate, we all agreed there is potentially a strong upside of being linked to Jesus, while no one could think of an upside to being linked to Satan. In other words, the devil-worshipping market segment in society was thought to be much smaller than the God-worshipping market segment, which might have been the clinching argument for Nike in its decision of whether to sue. Of course, as so often happens in such cases, the result of the lawsuit was only to draw greater attention to the shoes (and song) and no doubt exceed Lil Nas X's expectations for the stunt.
Take care
David
David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2020
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Nike wins court bid over 'Satan Shoes' with human blood
April 1, 2021
BBC News
"Jesus shoes" with holy water in the soles are selling for $4,000
By Caitlin O'Kane
October 11, 2019
CBS News
The Story of MSCHF, a Very Modern … Business?
By Sanam Yar
January 30, 2020
The New York Times
