Nike 'Black and Tan' trainer kontrovers

The article says that Nike is launching a “Black and Train” trainers. The special about the Nike shoes was that they were given was the same as of a British paramilitary unit, which terrorized the Irish people during the Irish Independence Wars in the early 1920s. An Irish-American says that it is the same as to give a new product the name “al-Qaida”. The shoe was called Black and Tan, because they reminded of the military with their khaki colors and police associations. Nike has apologized for their mistake.

When big companies are launching new products, they simply just have to research before finding a name. Maybe it’s not the first problem a company thinks of when they are making a new product, but I actually think it´s unprofessional to launch a new product without searching on the name before the launching, because you have to have knowledge of what the name’s meaning is. If you do not do a Google search of the name and just use the name of the product, there may be lots of great discussions and bad criticism. For example would it be unprofessional if a Danish toy store launched a product called “The bomb in the turban” because it would give many associations to the Mohammad cartoons, and the crises in 2005, and therefore would some Muslims get angry and start a public discussion about it. The discussions and the critics can lead to some consequences such that the consumers will not buy the product, since it may have a different meaning for each individual or population because everyone has its historical background and lifestyle.