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How About "Air Gently Caress, With The Consent Of Both Parties"?

Jul 17, 2008
By .
Language, WTF?

We occasionally write about the extent to which the once-proud United Kingdom, under the government of Gordon Brown, has descended farther and farther into nannystate lunacy, to the point where even Californians can point at the limeys and laugh. It's a sad duty, as we're fans of Britain. But we soldier on.

Shoe manufacturer Nike has been forced, by public uproar, to withdraw its Air Stab (short for "stability") sneakers from the market due to complaints that the shoes glorify street violence and knifeplay.

The story speaks for itself:

A company spokesman said: "Given the current climate we have withdrawn the shoe indefinitely from Nike's own stores in the UK."

He said the Air Stab name reflected the fact that it was first launched in 1988 as a stability shoe and had no connection to knives or stabbing.

"While it may be an unfortunate coincidence timing-wise, given current problems regarding knife crime, we completely reject the idea that we are in any way condoning or encouraging the issue of knife usage," said the spokesman.

However, Crimestoppers, the crime fighting charity, said it was "astonished that a major retailer such as Nike could be this naïve and act so irresponsibly with its marketing.

"With the current gun and knife epidemic that is sweeping our country we would expect retailers to be taking a more sensitive approach to promoting products to a young and impressionable market."

Sheer insanity.

Last 5 posts by Patrick

5 Comments
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5 Comments

  1. tgb  •  Jul 17, 2008 @12:37 pm

    The Nike spokesman went on to say that their plans to launch the new "Air Gutshot" line here in the States would not be affected.

  2. Ken  •  Jul 17, 2008 @1:51 pm

    I hope that no one tells them about fuck-me pumps.

  3. dbt1949  •  Jul 17, 2008 @5:02 pm

    Or the Benny Hill lingerie.

  4. E  •  Jul 18, 2008 @4:03 am

    This is like the poor guy in DC who had to apologize and resign after using the word "niggardly" in a budget discussion. The fact that "niggardly" and the other word have no relation to each other beyond similar syllables was irrelevant.

  5. Thomas Lawrence  •  Jul 18, 2008 @4:18 am

    Ok, this one really IS stupid. But then the whole moral panic about knife crime in the UK is stupid (knife crime is actually stable, it's just the media have chosen to start noticing it in lieu of anything more interesting to talk about this silly season).

    At least the company are making the decision themselves rather than being forced into it by some government-sponsored body…

    Plus points also for linking to a proper newspaper.