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Nike seems to be provoking the Muslim month. The company recently released its new model of Air Max 270 shoes and according to the angry believers, the logo on the shoes printed on their sole depicts the name of Allah.
At least that is what Saika Norin, who launched an online protest, called on Muslims to sign in order to surrender to Nike.
The protest is hosted on the Change.Org website under the headline "Nike must withdraw the offensive shoe in the name of Allah from markets around the world" and aims at 15.000 signatures, while so far more than 14.000 signatures have been collected.
In a photo posted on the subject, the instigator of the protest parallels the spelling of the name Allah in Arabic with the artistic depiction of the Air Max logo.
"Nike has released the Nike Air Max 270 model with its logo on the sole depicting the word Allah in Arabic, which will definitely be trampled, kicked and soiled with mud and dirt," writes Norin, adding that "it is outrageous and disgusting." to write the name of God on a shoe ".
"This is disrespectful and extremely offensive to Muslims as well as to Islam. "I call on all Muslims and those who respect the freedom of religion to sign the protest," Norin said in a statement.
Nike, for its part, points out that it respects all religions and takes every incident of this nature seriously, a company spokesman said, adding that "the Air Max logo was designed to depict a modern image of the Air Max logo and depicts this logo alone. ».
"Any other meaning given to it is unintentional," Nike said.
However, this is not the first time that Nike has provoked strong reactions with its choices. She was recently embroiled in a political controversy over her decision to cast Colin Kepernick, the controversial former NFL player who started the wave of protests on his knees during the national anthem as her protagonist in her advertising campaign.