Nike Apologizes For Offensive 'Black And Tan' Sneaker (PHOTO, VIDEO)

Nike is apologizing for a new St. Patrick's Day-themed sneaker that offended many in the buildup to its release.

The SB Dunk Low "Black and Tan" trainers, which launch in the U.S. this week, were ostensibly named after the famous drink combining a dark beer -- usually Guinness -- with a lighter lager.

But "Black and Tan," which is the sneaker's "unofficial" name, has a darker connotation for many Irish people: it's also the name of a British paramilitary unit sent to quell Irish rebellion against British rule in the 1920s, a strike that led to many attacks on civilians.

"Black and Tan" or "Tan" is still a pejorative term for the British in Ireland. As the LA Times notes, "it would be akin, in some circles, to naming a sneaker the Taliban or the Nazi."

After a period of silence, Nike has apologized, as a spokesperson said in a statement to the Telegraph:

"This month Nike is scheduled to release a version of the Nike SB Dunk Low that has been unofficially named by some using a phrase that can be viewed as inappropriate and insensitive. We apologise. No offence was intended."

As far as we can tell, though, the shoe isn't been pulled or subjected to a name change.

This isn't the first time a Nike promotion has offended consumers. In 2006, Christians protested their use of a painted cross on the body of soccer player Wayne Rooney, saying it trivialized the sufferings of Christ. The company's 2010 ad, starring a mournful post-sex scandal Tiger Woods in a black-and-white video, also drew ire for its voiceover.

Read more over at the Telegraph.

Comments

[mitzmanx]

11:30 AM on 03/22/2013

OMG, lighten up! People get way too offended too easily these days! There are many beers called Black and Tan...and look at the colors of the shoes

[Brianna C]

03:25 PM on 03/28/2012

Although Nike made use of media in expressing being sorry for the situation, they made no indications through their socia media platforms. The use of the Twitter and Facebook pages would have been beneficial to the reputation of their name in terms of communicating directly with their consumers, particularly the Irish community. It is unfortunate that Nike did not further research the name before releasing the product, but the best thing they can do is stress that they are listening to what their consumers have to say and they will make the necessary steps to ensure that this situation will not happen again. This is most important seeing Nike often "personalizes" their products. - Brianna C.

[JONSHMAT]

04:42 PM on 03/17/2012

SO stupid.

[Saliva2Spit]

06:34 PM on 03/16/2012

Huh. Well alright then.

[pjbobolink]

01:55 PM on 03/16/2012

Pretty ugly shoe.

[SethBLiNK]

11:19 AM on 03/16/2012

I saw the headline and immediately thought of the Duke Ellington song, "Black and Tan Fantasy." Of course releasing it on St. Patrick's Day makes it hard to say that was the cultural reference they were going for.

On the other hand, either one is a rather obscure reference for American consumers. If they were really going for a St. Paddy's connection, it's weird they didn't go green.

[Seaniebhoy]

09:00 AM on 03/16/2012

Where to start...well firstly I would like to point out that the majority of those who are posting with "I'm Irish and I'm offended/not offended" are in fact American. Secondly Nike did mean to be offensive, they clearly tried to capitalize on St. Patrick's day by releasing a shoe named after a well known, but not very good, drink...which happens to be English in origin...fyi not called a Black and Tan in Ireland...we call it a half and half, or a light and bitter....and it's not overly popular. Finally, to those who seem to be offended by those who are actually offended...stop being the hurt feeling police...The Work of the military unit of the same name devestated the people in Rural Ireland with murders and arsons so unless you personally have some family history of going through something similar...shut it and let the offended be upset.

[Michael II]

08:05 AM on 03/16/2012

It apparently "offended many". But who? It's unfortunate for Nike, but it's hardly a national affront to the Irish. who complained exactly?

[Seaniebhoy]

08:36 AM on 03/16/2012

Dunno...maybe people who had family burned out by the tans, although it happened so long ago I imagine that it was more for principle than anything.

[GearoidOD]

07:43 AM on 03/16/2012

I dont think too many Irish people are overly upset about this but do see the inappropriateness of it. To make a comparision, imagine if Nike had designed some marketing campaign around St Geroges Day and managed to incorproate the Provisional IRA into it.

[oneilleddieeddie]

07:27 AM on 03/16/2012

I was born on a Dublin street where the Royal drums do beat
And the loving English feet they tramped all over us,
And each and every night when me father'd come home tight
He'd invite the neighbors outside with this chorus:

Oh, come out you black and tans,
Come out and fight me like a man
Show your wives how you won medals down in Flanders
Tell them how the IRA made you run like hell away,
From the green and lovely lanes in Killashandra.
Come let me hear you tell
How you slammed the great Pernell,
When you fought them well and truly persecuted,
Where are the smears and jeers
That you bravely let us hear
When our heroes of sixteen were executed.

Come tell us how you slew
Those brave Arabs two by two
Like the Zulus they had spears and bows and arrows,
How you bravely slew each one
With your sixteen pounder gun
And you frightened them poor natives to their marrow.

The day is coming fast
And the time is here at last,
When each yeoman will be cast aside before us,
And if there be a need
Sure my kids wil sing, "Godspeed!"
With a verse or two of Steven Beehan's chorus.

[unhingedsock]

07:23 AM on 03/16/2012

The offensiveness of it has to do with the release of it around Paddy's day. If it had of been released in September, no one would have turned a eye! The sad and hilarious thing is that they thought they could get a lot of sales releasing it at this time and end up shooting themselves in the foot because any Irish person or Irish American who MAY have purchased them, certainly isn't going to now!!

Have a good weekend! :)

[sifc33]

07:37 AM on 03/16/2012

uh, yeah I think NIKE will be ok without their rampant Irish fan base (insert sarcasm)

dude, "black and tan" is the name of a drink in the states, get over it

[GearoidOD]

07:47 AM on 03/16/2012

Well unhinged has nicely summed up the situation for posters. It may be your particular horizons are limited to your own little world, but many posters on Huff take an interest in matters far beyond thier own shores. And no I am not being sarcastic.

[unhingedsock]

08:07 AM on 03/16/2012

Yeah but the whole thing just shows how happy Nike are to wallow in their own ignorance and stupidity. A Google search before going ahead with a multi-million dollar promotion campaign isn't that hard!

Maybe you should try and take some time out from your sarcastic tenancies and ignorant outlook on life and try and come to terms with the fact that Black and Tan means something entirely different to a lot of people.

Oh and ''St Patrick's Day themed sneaker"... they were obviously trying to target their product at people of Irish decent or who at least like to pretend they're Irish for the day.

[Ben Wilson]

06:59 AM on 03/16/2012

Oh I didn't study this but have just been reminded I know some who went over with the Army and was a part of it, and he is pretty disgraced by it.

[Seaniebhoy]

09:02 AM on 03/16/2012

Uh...this was 80 something years ago...your friend must have a good constitution.

[Orthrus]

06:15 AM on 03/16/2012

I thought that international companies spent a lot of time choosing names that did not have unfortunate connotations. For example car makers ensure that a word which may be entirely innocent in one country does not mean something like male or female genitalia in another.

I suppose that being in an English speaking country the US marketing team would have thought that black and tan was totally inoffensive but there are clearly linguistic and cultural differences either side of the Atlantic. The offensiveness of swear words differs in some cases, for example the c word is quite prevalent in US dramas but is rarely used in the UK.

Surely Nike has marketing operations in the UK and Ireland but perhaps they are staffed by people who are too young or uneducated to know anything about history.

[GearoidOD]

07:41 AM on 03/16/2012

very good post.

[Jason Marco Sanborn]

10:03 AM on 03/22/2012

Sometimes Companies especially big ones, work in certain BU's and don't communicate with each other.. such a big US launch probably never had input from the other EX US teams. It happens often and is sad considering the money put into these projects.

[avam2009]

06:15 AM on 03/16/2012

political correct ideals of how everyone and everthing is getting out of hand.

The shoe is black and tan - get over it. Or, hey how about we ban the word "tan" as it applies to getting some sun?

[PbcKathyk]

07:20 AM on 03/16/2012

Dont be intentionally thick. So thats how we name things? Just purely on looks and not because there is something culturally significant in it? Duh..they clearly thought black and tan meant something else, or they would have called it black and tan and white and rubber..

[avam2009]

08:06 AM on 03/16/2012

You can read my other comments on this. And no, not everything has cultural significane behind it. (Btw, the military group is called "The Blacks and Tans" not black and tan.)

[avam2009]

08:07 AM on 03/16/2012

Oh, and with regard to "cultural significance"? The Drink IS called "black and tan" (exactly as the shoe was called, and Not like the miliatry unit).

[GearoidOD]

07:36 AM on 03/16/2012

Tell that to John Terry and Suarez !

[DonMadrid1500]

05:43 AM on 03/16/2012

Which came first the booze or the bad guys

[Seaniebhoy]

08:43 AM on 03/16/2012

The military unit...black shirts tan trousers

[samhaydenjr]

03:30 PM on 03/17/2012

Actually, according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_and_Tan), the drink actually pre-dates the military unit, having originally appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1889, apparently. So given that there is a genuine (not rationalised, political-correctness-gone-mad) defence of context why Nike used the term, we shouldn't be offended (especially as we all seem to be learning a bit of history). That said, I can't see these shoes selling very well in the Bogside.