This is the most surreal thing I’ve heard all week:
“Hackney Council has threatened to sue sportswear giant Nike for allegedly using their logo without permission.” (BBC)
From the Hackney Council website: “The logo, which appears on public buildings, council vans, staff uniforms and street signs across Hackney, has been used by Nike on t-shirts, vests, trainers and footballs designed to promote Nike’s grassroots football campaign for the World Cup.”
And you can see why I like Hackney: the Mayor said: “I also want assurances from Nike that all this kit has been ethically produced.”
“I also want assurances from Nike that all this kit has been ethically produced.”
Do they bobbins. They just want some filthy lucre (see this week’s Private Eye for a interesting account of how greed and short-sightedness in the council has led them to sell tons of valuable real estate at bargain basement prices to large offshore developers rather than the local businesspeople who occupied them previously).
The Nike thing first came to my attention in Bangkok, where, outside the Nike shop in Siam Square shopping centre, there’s a huge sign that says “Hackney Downs”. You can imagine my surprise. But apparently it’s, like, the stuff of footballing legend.