Nike urged to recall ‘Air Max 270’ shoes as logo on sole resembles ‘Allah’ in Arabic
Thousands of people are asking the world famous brand Nike to recall its Air Max 270 shoe, saying that the logo is offensive to Muslims.
A Change.org petition has gathered over 10,000 signatures in two weeks. Which says that the logo resembles “Allah,” the Arabic word for God, written in Arabic script.
The petition was launched by Saiqa Noreen, who wrote that the logo “will surely be trampled, kicked and become soiled with mud or even filth.”
“It is outrageous and appalling of Nike to allow the name of God on a shoe,” Noreen wrote. “This is disrespectful and extremely offensive to Muslim’s and insulting to Islam.”
A Nike spokesperson while speaking to “Today”, told that the logo is a “stylized” version of the Air Max trademark.
The spokesperson said, “Nike respects all religions and we take concerns of this nature seriously. The AIR MAX logo was designed to be a stylized representation of Nike’s AIR MAX trademark. It is intended to reflect the AIR MAX brand only. Any other perceived meaning or representation is unintentional.”
It is not the first time the company has faced such accusations of offensive imagery. It was earlier in 1997 when Nike stopped selling a line of shoes, over a flame-shaped logo that critics said looked like “Allah.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations protested the company’s logo on certain athletic shoes, saying it resembled the word “Allah” in Arabic script. Nike at the time said that it regretted any misunderstanding, explaining that the logo was meant to look like flames and recalled a line of shoes.
The complaints against Nike come just weeks after Amazon removed over a dozen products, including bath mats and doormats that had references to the Prophet Muhammad.
This is a pointless petition. The fact of the matter is, the community within this religion is making an uproar NOW of all times because of the name associated with it yet this logo was present on the very FIRST colorways of the Air Max 270 when it was released LAST YEAR. Where was the controversy then? What because the other colorways didn’t have the word”Religion” or something of relation in them?? Ridiculous. Wanting your beliefs to be respected is one thing but constantly attacking others for some public gain of what ever the case may be is unruly, unnecessary and extra. None of this was done prior to the introduction of the Air Max 270 and now its a problem. Yeah alright