OT: NIKE Enbarassed Into Pregnancy Protection Clause

[RockyMTblue2]

Nike just dispensed a little more empowerment, once someone put a little light on their hypocrisy.

Nike to add pregnancy protection to contracts for female athletes

"On Sunday, the New York Times ran an opinion piece from Lindsay Crouse and video by 33-year-old distance runner Alysia Montaño that pointed out the lack of fairness and support from sponsors toward female athletes who get pregnant. Montaño says when she told Nike she was pregnant, the company told her it was going to pause her contract. Crouse pointed out the hypocrisy from Nike, which has created advertising campaigns in which they claim to support and empower female athletes, encouraging them to dream big.
Nike apparently took note of the criticism and has enacted a change.

The Wall Street Journal’s Khadeeja Safdar reported on Friday that Nike has now added language to their contracts that will protect female athletes’ pay during pregnancy.

“We recognize we can do more and that there is an important opportunity for the sports industry to evolve to support female athletes,” the company said."

 

[meyers7]

Not sure about this. Let's take a look. Nike (or any company) is paying an athlete to be out there. Wearing their brand. Playing. Being a billboard if you will. If an athlete decides/chooses NOT to play, and not be out there, why should the company still need to pay??? I am assuming here most female athletes plan out their pregnancies.

It's not like an and ACL or achilles injury. If a male player decided not to play or be out there, for whatever reason, I don't know if they company would still want/need to pay them.

It's a nice gesture, but I'm not sure it's right. It might be, but I'm not sold yet.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I understand your point @meyers7 and there is an element of paying the athlete to continue to be a high visibility athlete, but they are also paying to glom onto an athlete's popularity based on past performance. And, let's face it, it is stupidly cheap to look like you're against motherhood for athletes when your immense success is based on selling stuff that costs you 10-15 dollars out of Far Eastern sweat shops for $150 on up.

 

[tomcat]

Don't think for a minute that Nike isn't considering creating a campaign around footwear for pregnant athletes. If they can create a campaign around Colin Kaepernik -- and they did, and it provably worked -- they can easily do this.