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July 30th, 2007

Yogis challenge Nike on dogfighting

Posted by: Helen Chernikoff
Tags: Uncategorized

yogi.jpg

Ok, not that Yogi.

A Los Angeles-area yoga entrepreneur is using her 60,000-person network of teachers and students to spearhead a grassroots protest against Nike’s decision not to terminate its relationship with National Football League star Michael Vick, who pleaded not guilty last week to federal charges of involvement in a dog-fighting operation.

Beth Shaw, whose YogaFit training, publishing and clothing company does about $4 million in sales annually, knows she’s tiny next to Nike. Her power to hurt the athletic apparel giant lies in her influence as a yoga master over thousands of devotees who are also potential Nike customers, she said.

Nike said it would not fire Vick before he received a fair trial,  though on Friday afternoon the company suspended Vick’s contract without pay and said it would not sell any Vick T-shirts or shoes at its company-owned stores, company spokesman Derek Kent said.

“We do believe that Michael Vick should be afforded the same due process as any citizen in the United States,” the company said in a statement.

Today, Shaw said, she will send an e-mail to those 60,000 teachers and students urging them to transcend the boycott and actually mail used Nike wear to the company’s Beaverton, Oregon headquarters.

“I think it sends a really powerful message when people don’t even wear the products they’ve spent money on,” she said.

Shaw has also forbidden her master teachers to wear Nike wear in classes.

“These people are seeing hundreds of people a week in their classes. They’re all teaching in gyms and fitness facilities, so they  have a lot of pull with people who are buying Nike products,” she said.

YogaFit also wants the company to make a $1 million donation to the Humane Society of the United States.

Nike declined to comment on YogaFit’s protest.

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