Nike’s basketball ads in the 1980s and early 90s featuring Michael Jordan and Spike Lee’s alter ego Mars Blackmon popularized the famous line “Money, it’s gotta be the shoes!”
Fast forward to 2012 – Nike is still selling sneakers and charging big-time money for them. This fall, the sneaker giant is expected to unveil its ‘LeBron X’ sneaker and if you want to wear them, it will cost a cool $315 according to the Wall Street Journal.
The National Urban League wants no part of it.
The civil rights organization has slammed Nike for charging so much for the shoe and is encouraging parents not to spend their money on an “empty status symbol.” The group’s president Marc Morial has asked Nike to scrap its plans to release the show altogether:
“I ask Nike – and the parents whose children are targeted in this misdirected campaign – to join us in our efforts to empower young people to value their own talents – athletic and otherwise – above material tokens and work together for broader access to the economic mainstream.”
The Urban League released a statement earlier today, where Morial describes the LeBron James sneaker as representing “twisted priorities and confused values.”
Earlier in the statement, Morial says:
“To release such an outrageously overpriced product while the nation is struggling to overcome an unemployment crisis is insensitive at best.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, this version of the ‘LeBron X’ sneaker includes its own electronics and will be the most expensive shoe in Nike history.
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