E-Mail Exchange Trips Up Nike

April 2 -- In the end, Nike just couldn't do it.

A graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory wanted to order a pair of shoes — and make a statement. But the Beaverton, Oregon-based company famed for its laissez faire corporate image found it could not comply.

Two months later, the e-mail exchange between Jonah Peretti and Nike has made it into the realm of Internet myth, a case study for the David vs. Goliath possibilities of Web activism, as well as a reminder that the Internet can be a giant echo chamber.

Sneaking in a Word

It started innocuously enough. In January, Peretti logged on to the Nike Web site and attempted to order a pair of personalized Nike sneakers. The word he chose to be branded on his shoes was "sweatshop."

But Nike refused his order, sparking off an e-mail exchange between customer and corporation that became a telling, if hilarious case history of the dangers attempting to shift control from producer to user. The exchange only ended with Peretti asking for a snapshot of "the 10-year-old Vietnamese girl who makes my shoes." (For the full exchange, see related story).

The saga of Peretti attempting to order a pair of shoes did not end there. A few weeks after the exchange, he forwarded the e-mail to a few of his friends.

The rest, as they say, is Internet history.

Spreading the Message

Within a few weeks, the exchange had traveled around the world. At its peak, Peretti received around 500 e-mails a day from Asia, Australia, Europe and South America.

Reactions ranged from fan mail saluting his stance against Nike to angry e-mails accusing him of boosting traffic on the Nike Web site.

"This will go round the world much further and faster than any of the adverts they paid Michael Jordan, more than the entire wage packet of all their sweatshop workers in the world to do," wrote one appreciative recipient.

Academics informed him his correspondence had crept into their course work and adoring female fans wanted to know if he was single, offering to promptly relieve him of any lasting loneliness, should he desire.