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Just Do It, Over… Nike has finally thrown in the towel, agreeing to modify its much ridiculed “Nike Vapor Premiers” uniforms for Major League Baseball. It didn't have to happen.
In introducing the new jerseys, Nike touted them as offering a better fit in what it touted as the “most advanced uniforms in the history of Major League Baseball.”
Nike’s uniform woes became evident shortly after the first pitch of Spring Training. Players complained about the massive sweat stains on their shirts and tight-fitting pants that frequently ripped when they slid into a base.
And what about those ridiculously tiny letters and numbers on the backs of the shirts? How could fans sitting in the stands identify players during workouts? In a PR move, Nike could have distributed mini-telescopes for game day. But that would have been an admission that it screwed up.
How bad were those numbers? The owner of the Kansas City Royals begged Nike for bigger letters and digits. Nike "graciously" complied with the request, but only for Spring Training.
In an April 28 memo, the MLB Players Association criticized Nike for ignoring widespread complaints about the uniforms.
It charged the company with having a “nothing to see here, players will have to adjust” attitude.
The memo said the basic problem was there was no need for the new uniforms. “Nike was innovating something that didn’t need to be innovated.”
Nike’s bad MLB press comes during a tough year for the athletic wear company that has laid off about 1,600 workers.
The company reported that net income dropped five percent to $1.2B during its most recent quarter on flat revenues of $12.4B.
CEO John Donahue said Nike is making the necessary adjustments to drive the next chapter of growth.
Those adjustments will include a revamp of the Nike Vapor Premiers, or just going back to the old uniforms.
Nike could frame the situation the way Coca-Cola did when it ditched its New Coke and returned to the old formula. Coke acceded to the pleas of its diehard fans. Nike finally got the message.
Ban Us….A good chunk of TikTok users want the Chinese-controlled platform banned in the US, according to a YouGov survey.
More than a third (34 percent) want the ban, while 45 percent oppose it. Twenty-one percent are not sure.
A little less than half (46 percent) of the general population supports the governmental action against TikTok, and 27 percent are against it.
YouGov found that TikTok’s popularity is on the rise in the US, especially among older folks.
The Stop, shop & scroll: US TikTok Report 2024, found that 21 percent of Americans use TikTok compared to five percent in 2021.
The 45-54 and 55+ age brackets increased use of TikTok by five percentage points since 2022, while the 18-24 group posted a 10-point decline in TikTok use
Congress has given ByteDance, TikTok’s owner, nine months to sell the app or to exit the US. If sales talks are ongoing, it gets another three months to close the deal.
But ByteDance has told the US to bug off. It has no plans to either sell TikTok or withdraw from the US. It prefers to slug it out in US courts.
It could be years before the issue is resolved, which gives China plenty of time to gather more information about Americans, or to influence American politics.
'Best Lede of the Week Award' goes to Wall Street Journal reporter Angus Berwick for his story about a former FTX executive successfully bidding $1.5M for a gold watch that was found on the body of John Jacob Astor IV, a victim of the Titanic sinking. It is the most ever paid for Titanic memorabilia.
“A gold pocket watch that survived the sinking of the Titanic has a new owner: a survivor of crypto’s biggest wreck,” wrote Berwick. Bravo!
JJA4, who was then-America's richest man, went down with the ship after making sure that his wife was in a lifeboat.
His body and possessions were recovered a week after the disaster and the watch was given to his son, Vincent Astor. The Astor family sold it to a private collector in the 1990s.
Unlike FTX, JJA4's watch is still ticking.
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