Pressure builds on Nike, Adidas ties to CCP
Christian colleges, high schools must match sponsorships with faith
(Note: the logos and photos are free downloads. The Nike logo is from FreePNGimg.com, Adidas logo is from Braditechture, and Xi Jinping is from cleanPNG.)
Two nights before the Sweet 16 resumed the 2023 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, the Select U.S. House panel investigating the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), highlighted two Chinese concentration camp survivors and the genocide of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang Province.
This was bad news for Nike and Adidas, two shoe companies that dominate U.S. college and high school sports, including the NCAA tournament. Those two shoe companies also are quite prevalent on the backs and on the feet of athletes representing Christian colleges and high schools as official sponsors.
Both shoe companies are being asked hard questions about their supply chains from Xinjiang Province in producing their sneakers. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute identified 83 foreign and Chinese companies in March 2020 allegedly directly or indirectly benefiting from the use of Uyghur workers outside Xinjiang through “potentially abusive labor transfer programs.”
At a time when Americans are financially punishing Disney, Target, and Anheuser-Busch, for going woke, imagine the financial suffering Nike and Adidas would feel if every Christian college and high school ended their sponsorships overnight because these companies have an active financial stake in the CCP, and perhaps the Uyghur Muslim genocide.
When the 2023 NCAA men’s basketball tournament started on March 14, there was the following breakdown of sponsorships by colleges:
36 teams sponsored by Nike;
4 teams sponsored by Jordan;
18 teams sponsored by Adidas; and
10 teams sponsored by Under Armour.
There were a few evangelical Christian or Catholic schools in the “Big Dance” doing business with Nike, including Baylor, Grand Canyon, Oral Roberts, Marquette, and Xavier universities. There are numerous others across all college sports.
Two Christian colleges ended their Nike sponsorships after Colin Kaepernick started kneeling for the national anthem in 2016. Why not a more powerful response from Christians for a genocide by the CCP?
U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-WI, and panel chairman focused on the CCP, appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” with Joel Kernen in early May, saying the committee was seeking more information from Nike, Adidas, Temu, and Shein for supply chains possibly connected to Xinjiang Province.
That northwestern Chinese province is ground zero for the CCP’s effort to eliminate Uyghur Muslims through re-education camps, slave labor, imprisonment, torture, sterilizations, and murder. Gallagher noted that 80 percent of Chinese products made of cotton are sourced from Xinjiang Province and Uyghur Muslim slave labor. Many call the CCP move a genocide against 1 million to 1.2 million Uyghur Muslims.
As the NCAA entered its Final 4 weekend, Nike wasn’t focused on how its product shined again on a big stage. On March 31, Footwear News published a story on a Nike shareholder saying the company must ensure investors that human rights were upheld in supply chains.
“We call upon all investors to band together, use their collective shareholder powers and encourage Nike to adopt stronger environmental and social commitments, ensuring that one of the most beloved companies in the world is being responsibly managed with leadership accounting for all material risks and opportunities,” said Antoine Argouges, Tulipshare CEO and founder.
Tulipshare wants Nike Inc. investors to make their intentions known through its website prior to the investors meeting this fall.
Meanwhile, NBC News reported in July a Canadian ethics watchdog received complaints about Nike Canada Corp. having multiple suppliers who receive products from Chinese companies obtaining their product from Uyghur Muslim slave labor.
Five days after that NBC News report, Nike ended its sponsorship with Hockey Canada, citing Hockey Canada’s handling of sexual assault allegations and payouts. Was it legitimate or payback for its Canadian sister company? Or both?
Supply chains from Uyghur Muslim slave labor could be just the beginning of the problems for Nike and Adidas. What the Select House panel on the CCP is unearthing causes more problems for all American businesses in China.
The House Select Committee on the CCP heard from three witnesses, and a fourth from taped remarks, on July 13 describing the growing risk of doing business in China. Coercion, theft of intellectual property, or threats have become CCP practice. If those don’t work, business leaders could be accused of spying against China.
Peter Humphrey is a British specialist on China and has been working there for 48 years. His business has performed due diligence for companies doing business in China navigating the CCP.
“Every American business today must understand nobody and no company is safe in China, Humphrey said.
He explained the CCP introduced anti-espionage and foreign relations laws in July that are vague. Humphrey said President Xi Jinping’s “waging war on the tiniest iota of information” going into China. He said due diligence is impossible, and companies “must fly blind or tip-toe through landmines.”
Shehad Qazi, chief operating officer and managing director of China Beige Book International, was one of those who testified at the meeting. Qazi’s firm does deep analytical research to help businesses make decisions.
He said 60,000 Chinese economic indicators have been discontinued for public access in the past dozen yeas. He also said China has been “information black-holed” more than at any time since China’s acceptance into the World Trade Organization in 2001.
“China’s becoming an information desert,” Qazi said. “You can’t invest if you don’t know the basic data and how every sector is performing and so on and so forth.”
Gallagher calls on American corporate executives to remove “the golden blindfolds and steer with clear eyes.”
Christians must do the same thing in how they view Nike, Adidas, and countless other U.S. companies fully engaged in immoral practices with the most oppressive and repressive nation on earth.
It’s time to match sponsorships at Christian colleges and high schools to biblical faith for such a time as this.