According to Nike football doesn’t exist in Africa
Filed Under (Random Note) by Nic on 09-01-2008
Tagged Under : Africa, Football, Ignorance, nike, soccer
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For some reason today I visited kickoff.com. Nike has a massive banner advert across the top of the site.
I found myself intrigued for some reason with this advert so I clicked on it. It took me to the nikefootball.com website.
The strangest thing happened. I think the website broke as soon as I landed on the page because there is no Africa option on the site. They ask you to select a region and a language but sadly there is no way to choose Africa.
Does Nike think that we don’t have Internet down here in deep dark Africa? Do they think that we don’t know what football is (or soccer) in Africa, can’t afford an actual ball or did they not notice that little thing called the World Cup in 2010?
This sort of junk really gets under my skin because it’s not like we are some obscure little country in the world, THEY LEFT OUT AFRICA. In case you were wondering and didn’t know this, Africa is actually an entire continent that is bigger than freakin’ Europe (I think). How do you leave out an entire continent that is hosting it’s first FOOTBALL WORLD CUP in 2010?
Ridiculous and it pisses me off.
What? You’ve got to be kidding… that’s ridiculous. Maybe someone *important* will see this blog post and do something about it…
What a frigging joke… that’s just pathetic!
What do you expect from a global corporation that sees only its bottom line? They only put effort in to markets with cash. Maybe they think we don’t have internet access?
Its still sucks
I think Europe needs a lesson on African Football 101
Yep, everything you’ve all said is spot on. What a joke.
Nic, hopefully your post will be noticed by Nike and they’ll give Africa the recognition it deserves.
Well spotted.
This isn’t true. I’ve attended workshops sponsored and presented by Nike in Namibia recently and they have a huge presence and impact in Africa - they are involved in sports development programmes at a level that I think few people can comprehend. In fact, they had representatives from the Beaverton campus presenting on marketing insights from Nike - insights and strategies that they were willing to share with sports development agencies - a first time they decided to share that information with anyone outside of Nike.
Don’t mistake some marketing site blunder (or whatever the reason was for not adding Africa to a pulldown-menu) for uninvolvement in or a non-committal attitude to the Africa continent from a sports point of view.
Hey Alan,
Thanks for your input and I agree with you.
Ofcourse one slight stuff up does not mean that they are doing nothing in Africa, but really lets just be honest about it all. They are a company trying to sell a product so nothing is for nothing. And if they want to get hold of the African market it’s not just about grassroots levels; schools, uni’s, clubs etc, it’s about mass media, make us feel like we belong. Don’t slip up like that.
It’s unforgivable for a company of their size, with their budget. It’s not like they left out America…
I WAS JUST AS SHOKED AS MY BROTHER WHEN I VISITED THEIR SITE THERE WAS ALL THE VISIBLE CONTINENTS NO MAMA AFRICA ON THEIR SIDE WHAT MUST AFRICA DO TO OBTAIN GLOBAL RECOGNITION FROM THESE CORPERATE GIANTS
Can I ask though - how did you get this picked up and into google news?
Very impressive that this blog is syndicated through Google and is it something that is just up to Google or you actively created?
Obviously this is a popular blog with great data so well done on your seo success..
Soccer / Football greats you should write about next!