The Side Effects of Endorphins

I remember leaving grad school and seeing an ad for Nike in a running magazine. I wanted to work for them more than anything. I got a cold rejection letter.

A weird twist to faith I moved across the country and ended up working across the street from Nike.

We would run at lunch on their track and there were world class athletes there. We never got hassled until one day Alberto Salazar started harping that one of our people was not wearing the Nike logo. He was once a hero, but once we met the person, he was a jackass.

In my field, we knew all the companies that were hiring for database work and Nike was one of them. I got offers to work for them, but by then their reputation has been soiled. Nobody wanted to work there. they didn’t even pay very well. They thought their reputation was enough.

I have no brand loyalties. I believe the closest I have to brand loyalty is we buy a Toyota every single time. I have no love for cars. I just want a car gets me back-and-forth to where I’m going consistently.

And where I’m going with his is that brand loyalty is no good to anybody. Of course I support companies that are environmentally friendly animal friendly, and earth friendly. Nike appeared to be that kind of company, but it wasn’t. Here is an excellent book on some of the abuses that happened at Nike.

It is well worth the read.

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