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Home · Articles · News · News · The Shoe Must Go On
October 3rd, 2007 Ethan Smith | News
 

The Shoe Must Go On

Nike makes shoes aimed for sale to Native Americans. WW considers other niche markets for the Swoosh.

5 Comments
     
Tags:
Air Closet Case
IMAGE: thomas cobb

Richard Pryor once said, “Tight shoes are a motherfucker, brother.”

True. And Nike also seems to agree. Last week, Nike debuted the Air Native, a training shoe tailored to the wider Native American foot. Indians suffer from above-average rates of obesity and adult-onset diabetes. Stripped of land, culture and history, they’re apparently turning to the fridge for consolation. So Nike is trying to encourage exercise among the tribes with a niche-marketed $44 sneaker, rolling back all profits into tribal health programs.

This got WW thinking: What other at-risk segments of the population could benefit from kicks of their own? Try these on.

AIR QUAGMIRE
For:
Iraq/Bush Protesters
Health Issues:
Blisters, shin splints, feelings of helplessness.

The Air Quagmire comes equipped with plenty of padding and an extra-thick sole—because activists hungering for Bush’s impeachment or a hasty end to the Iraq occupation better keep marching. And its red-white-and-blue color scheme should help the Pentagon distinguish protesters from enemy combatants (money back if you wind up in Gitmo).

AIR HEIMLICH
For:
University of Oregon football players
Health Issues:
Unusually high instances of choking at key moments.

Enclosed with each pair of these gridiron cleats is a $50,000 check signed by Phil Knight. While the shoes can’t stop the Ducks from blowing big games just when their fans dare to believe this is their year, the extra dough means the team can afford new uniforms every time they break fans’ hearts (as in four fourth-quarter turnovers in last Saturday’s loss to Cal).

AIR CLOSET CASE
For:
“Not Gay” Idaho senators
Health Issues:
“Wide stance,” possible STDs.

These shoes come laced together, so they can only be spread about 2 1/2 feet apart—or slightly less than the width of an airport restroom stall. And Nike’s revolutionary Straight-Fit™ fabric is proven to fight off not-at-all-gay same-sex attraction, minimizing stall-to-stall ogling and obscene hand gestures.

 
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10.03.2007 at 05:08 Reply
Tom
How about the WW shoe, where it is designed to take in the crap that is published and produce useful information.

 

10.03.2007 at 07:54 Reply
How about 'Air In-Your-Face'.

Both shoes are lefts, they are unattractive but very sensible, and anyone not wearing them is a facist bigot.

Really cutting edge stuff, Ethan. Heh.

 

10.03.2007 at 08:56 Reply
"Stripped of land, culture and history, they’re apparently turning to the fridge for consolation."

Lets see, you strip people of a vital food source such as salmon runs, through dam building, commercial overfishing and industrial and agricultural water pollution. Leaving them to survive off of commodities and processed food, that their bodies aren't used to, and you expect them to not be physically affected.

Or maybe the fact that they are the most economically deprived group in the U.S.

This paper gets worse by the wweek.

 

10.04.2007 at 06:34 Reply
Does your editor screen your stories? Nike targets health issues in an underrepresented market and you scribble: "Stripped of land, culture and history, they?re apparently turning to the fridge for consolation"(?)

Is there no accountability or ethics at your rag? Don't you care that decades of being discounted are exasperated by glib, stupid, and insensitive comments like the ones your "journalists" spew forth? I used to enjoy WW, thank God I can now afford Charmin...

 

05.06.2008 at 08:11 Reply
Read the book"Whos afraid of Niketown" if you want to understand the cults future goals

 

 
 

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