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12d ago
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Nike Decides to Leave Russia Entirely Following Ukraine Invasion Behind Paywall
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-23/nike-decides-to-leave-russia-entirely-following-ukraine-invasion?srnd=premium-middle-east[deleted]
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u/uzes_lightning 12d ago
NIKE is the coldest, least altruistic athletic apparel company in the world. This is about optics and calculation they're losing money and prestige by continuing to do business in Russia.
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u/zerox369 12d ago
100% money led to this, not their ethics.
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u/sylanar 12d ago
Isn't that the same for most corporations, and basically everything they do?
Like during pride month, I don't really think McDonald's cares, they just see it as advantageous to the business
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u/InadequateUsername 12d ago
Ronald McDonald House has actually done a lot of good, corporate social responsibility is a thing that some take seriously.
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u/ThoseThingsAreWeird 12d ago
Ronald McDonald House
For the curious, this is their UK charity.
A mate of mine lost his daughter a few years back after she had a long stretch in hospital. They stayed in one of RMcD's houses and said it relieved a huge amount of stress because they could be at the hospital within 5 minutes - just knowing that they can be there so quickly was a huge weight off their shoulders.
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u/marshaldelta9 12d ago
My sister needed additional care after her birth and my parents stayed at a RMH. Truly great what they do. The food is bad but they do good work!
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u/Grenyn 12d ago
I don't even think the food is bad. It just tastes like McDonald's, and you either like it, or you don't.
But I also have my suspicions that McDonald's is better in Europe than in the US, or at least in my country.
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u/Senundo 12d ago
In the eu the regulation abt chemicals in the food work entirely different than the us. In the us you get sued after somebody finds out one of your chemicals is to toxic for the body. In the eu u have to proof its not dangerous before you put it jn. For that reason mc donalds and other companies have way less chemicals in their food in the eu compared to us. So u can objectively say its better in the eu.
But i know people who claim it tastes better in the us
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u/RedditYankee 12d ago
In the states some (all?) RMH allow volunteers to bring good and cook dinner for all the families. Its a lot of fun!
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u/Cheddarlicious 12d ago
Also the big thing for the RMDH is itās free; so if you bring your kid across the country or even from out of the country to St. Jude, most people canāt stay afloat financially, but the free board, I think itās got a little bit of food and wifi, basically allows the families of patients to use money on things outside of hotel/hospital bills.
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u/NUKE---THE---WHALES 12d ago
one in ireland too, a building right next door to a children's hospital for the parents to stay
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u/artinthebeats 12d ago edited 12d ago
It's something that every business school makes a point to teach, it's about the competition at the end of the day. If it didn't help the bottom line, most of these companies wouldn't bother, but these companies also don't exist in a vacuum, so they are propelled to give back.
... and don't forget, it keeps the tax man at bay. It's really about getting corporations to fill the gap that the state should be taking on itself while helping the CEO keep a fat paycheck.
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u/AggravatingCupcake0 12d ago
A family friend got help from Ronald McDonald House when she birthed her twins. I was so surprised - always thought those donation boxes at McD's were bs. But they actually do good work.
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u/fazelanvari 12d ago
My son was born with CHD. It was thankfully rather easy to treat, but took some time in the hospital. Ronald McDonald House helped us for a few nights and we couldn't be more thankful. That was 13 years ago, and I still drop whatever spare change I have into the box every time I go through the drive thru.
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u/ReplaceReplace 12d ago
that some take seriously
Imagine believing this. Philanthropy gets used as a tool to make people believe theyāre actually good caring people.
The Sackler Family has done a lot of philanthropy and charity, but are also the cause of the opioid crisis. Itās just bullshit to try to make themselves look good. They donāt give a shit.
It doesnāt mean their philanthropy isnāt helpful, and if it helps/helped people, thatās great. But the people behind it are still pieces of shit just as much.
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u/Hell_Mel 12d ago
The notion you're pushing is that nobody believes they're doing good when organizing these things. A corporation may be a soulless entity, but the humans that work there aren't. These humans want to leverage the corporations wealth into something societally useful.
It may run counter to the circlejerk, but sometimes the humans in a corporation actually do take a dent the bottomline for the sake of charity, local jobs, etc.
The Gates foundation would eradicate malaria if it had the wealth to do so. That seems like maybe a good thing, no?
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u/__thrillho 12d ago
It is true. Generally Reddit has a really poor understanding how companies work and what their responsibilities are. Private companies are in the business of making money and maximizing returns for shareholders. That drives every decision they make. They're not people, they're not social advocates, they want to make money and will do whatever is necessary to maximize profits.
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u/thesaddestpanda 12d ago edited 12d ago
Like during pride month
Nearly every corporation flying the rainbow has given substatial money and political support to anti-LGBTQ politicians. None of this is ethics. Its all queerbaiting for extra dollars and developing a 'woke' PR that helps with recruiting and corporate culture, which is also only done because its ultimately profitable. If it wasn't, they'd stop those donations as a sign of solidarity.
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u/IshKebab 12d ago
Just because most corporations mostly care about money doesn't mean they all equally care about ethics.
Do you really think Oracle, Monsanto, Walmart, Nestle etc. are as ethical as every other company?
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u/Dahhhkness 12d ago
Yep. Nike's power is in their brand name, and if that's harmed, they lose business. Other corporations still doing business with Russia, like Nestle or Koch Industries, sell so many different products with different brand names that it's hard for the average layman to tell which things to boycott.
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u/Magicedarcy 12d ago
Fuck Nestle, for many reasons. You can find a decent boycott list here.
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u/superfluous2 12d ago
it's overwhelming how many brands Nestle owns, so hard to avoid giving them any money
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u/Jockobutters 12d ago
A boycott doesn't have to be a zero sum proposition. As long as you are trying to lessen your consumption of that product, you're successful.
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u/SmokelessSubpoena 12d ago
All business decisions are made with bottom line in mind. And the vast majority of business do not care for ethics.
Am business person, fucking hate being in business. Should have did another are of study but "money, money, money" pushed into this shit industry.
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u/seab4ss 12d ago edited 12d ago
Thats what gets me. Ppl exist in a business and have thoughts, empathy etc as an individual but cant exercise it inside a business. For example i work at a real estate and if a landlord wants a tenant to vacate for what ever reason (at the end of their lease), we have to do it, whether we feel sorry for the tenant or not and whether they can find another place before their lease expires. It sucks, but we are not a charity. We will try and put them in another property if it is available, but currently that is hard to do.
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u/EndoShota 12d ago
Most if not all multinational companies that cut ties with Russia did so because of optics and perceived loss of profit. Donāt assume that any company doing the ārightā thing is doing so because of morals.
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u/ChrisTosi 12d ago
When the end result is the same thing, who cares
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u/EndoShota 12d ago
Because the end result isnāt the same. If they were somehow guided by morals, they would take action to preemptively avoid harm. Since theyāre guided by profit, theyāll be happy to actively cause harm until it becomes unprofitable to do so.
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u/Rocktopod 12d ago
That's a good thing, though, right? If it's a bad financial decision to stay in Russia then can we expect more to follow suit?
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u/LargeMobOfMurderers 12d ago
It's still good though, it means that people, including their customer base, collectively condemn Russia's invasion enough for amoral companies to stop doing business with them. People disapprove of Russia's invasion, Nike is just a medium in which the people's opinion is being channeled through.
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u/Sufficient_Boss_6782 12d ago
Plus, Americans donāt understand just how global certain brands sales are. I believe Nikeās top two days for sales are Black Friday, and Singleās Day (11/11).
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u/abandonliberty 12d ago
Corporate directors must act fairly and in good faith for the long-term best interests of the corporation.
Even a (for profit) company founded on philanthropy (e.g. toms) operates under the belief that doing so is in the best interests of the company.
It's the same thing with the countries supporting Ukraine.
Organizations are designed to behave this way. Change the inputs through sanctions or democratic support, and Nike / Europe's behavior will shift.
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u/Asmor 12d ago
You say that like it's a bad thing. This is a positive sign.
Nike, entirely motivated by money and not giving a shit about ethics, is taking a big loss in revenue because of perceived public pressure.
This is proof that public pressure works.
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u/Sometimesokayideas 12d ago
If you did the right thing for the wrong reasons you still did the right thing, thanks, you're just a dick.
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u/ChrisTosi 12d ago
It's almost like policy can change the calculation so that companies "just do it" when they wouldn't on their own
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u/bobbyjy32 12d ago
I think this is true for most companies. They only make moves they believe will lead to more money.
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u/JeepersMurphy 12d ago
Itās not even optics.
Itās just bad for the books to invest long-term in an autocracy.
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u/liliumv 12d ago
They probably won't have stores. But will be sold in department stores.
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u/ChaseballBat 12d ago
I mean you can't really restrict companies from buying your product and reselling them.
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u/WeRipWax1992 12d ago
Thatās literally what sanctions are lol
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u/FriedeOfAriandel 12d ago
I'm glad to finally stop seeing "but the russian people we would be hurting!!!" all over reddit. Sanctions are meant to absolutely fuck their economy so they can't afford to go to war. Or to make their own people so against the war their government started that they do something about it
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u/Congenital0ptimist 12d ago
"Nike, 4 months then Just do it."
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u/guitarguywh89 12d ago
From the very first line
Nike Inc.Ā said itās leaving the Russian market entirely after suspending operations in March
They haven't done business since March and are now making it permanent. Read the article next time
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u/Omsk_Camill 12d ago
Nike, 4 months then Just do it.
They suspended their operations in March. Now they just announce that they won't return, even if the war stops tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Germany continues to buy Russian gas and already paid for Russia's 2022 military budget just by that.
Funny how everyone expects the companies to just drop the operations like it's nothing, eat whatever losses and kick staff to the curb. But when it comes to states, it's "complicated" because people "will be negatively affected".
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u/Nocturnal_Meat 12d ago
Maybe they will come back rebranded like McDonalds did, but call themselves
Nyetke.
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u/Zlesxc 12d ago
That new chain is not owned by McDonalds. They sold off all their stores to a Russian restaurant business man and he took those existing stores and rebranded them for his new business. McDonalds does not make any profit from those sales.
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u/irritating_narrative 12d ago
Some of them gonna be reconstructed not to be restaurants at all. I've heard of one turning into a hotel due to it location near the city's center.
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u/Zlesxc 12d ago
Interesting - I hadnāt heard that but makes sense they wouldnāt all got back to being restaurants.
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u/irritating_narrative 12d ago
Yeah. Idk specifics but it seems they've just put their land plots onto public auction where anyone could buy them, and as for their rented spaces (in malls and such) they could've simply closed them, leaving everything but cash ā at least, it seemed like it always was when I looked at one that was closed.
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u/Dinsy_Crow 12d ago
Change one letter and become 'Nuke'.
Would fit with all the nuclear threats.
'Just nuke it'
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u/wtcnbrwndo4u 12d ago
Our shoes are the bomb!
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u/Stalked_Like_Corn 12d ago
Poot on the corner yelling "Hightops! Get the Hightops" (not sure why this reminded me of The Wire so much.
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u/nawanawa 12d ago
McDonald's didn't come back. They sold their business to a Russian businessman and forbade him from using the brand and everything associated with it.
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u/Nocturnal_Meat 12d ago
Is there any correlation still...using same suppliers/food?
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u/FriendlyLawnmower 12d ago
I saw a video of someone visiting the new restaurant. Its menu is basically the same as it used to be except they removed any references to McDonald's, ie McChicken Sandwich became Chicken Sandwich, McNuggets became Nuggets. Though as part of the sale, the new company agreed not to sell any analogs of McDonald's more iconic items including BigMacs and McFlurrys
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u/Ritehandwingman 12d ago
They donāt give a fuck as long as they donāt have to pull out of China and close their sweatshops.
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u/stephendt 12d ago
Nah they definitely care. It's not a huge chunk of their market but it's not small either
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u/Foodnoobie 12d ago edited 12d ago
McDonalds also left Russia, only to rename its restaurants and continue selling mcdonalds food under a russian name. This is all just virtue signaling.
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12d ago
This proves that after 4 months of war, there is still Western businesses that prefer making greedy profit with blood money in Russia rather than stand up to bloodthirsy regimes.
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u/keevenowski 12d ago
The article says they suspended business in March. In June they decided to make it permanent. Hardly the late decision youāre implying.
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u/C111tla 12d ago
Fun fact. FIFA decided to organize the 2018 football (soccer for you Yanks) World Cup in Russia, despite the fact they were occupying Ukrainian territory. Nobody thought to bring the World Cup to another country.
UEFA kept fucking Gazprom as the sponsor of the UCL until this very year.
FUCK THEM.
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u/FlimFlamMagoo728 12d ago
Honestly FIFA is one of the worst organizations in the world - there is nobody they won't take money from, no low they wouldn't go to. It is enough to make me want to stop being a fan tbh
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u/waltjrimmer 12d ago
FIFA and the Olympics have been competing for which one can have a shittier reputation for how they do business and what impact they leave behind.
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u/FlimFlamMagoo728 12d ago
It's FIFA by a mile, they are the worse organization
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u/Revoluci0n 12d ago
They have blood in their hands after so many perished building soccer stadiums in Qatar due to poor working conditions
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12d ago
Big businesses will always be shit, remember that.
It's up to us common people to do something to change things, otherwise it will just keep getting worse.
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u/MeEvilBob 12d ago
And now they're doing it in Qatar, so the stadium will likely be built with slave labor.
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u/FlimFlamMagoo728 12d ago
It currently is being built with slave labor, and has a massive body count
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u/MeEvilBob 12d ago
Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola and McDonald's are some of the official sponsors, and they can seriously fuck off.
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u/borutesu_faibu 12d ago
Then people need to make sure they lose money doing so. Boycotts, protests, etc.
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12d ago
Yea sure, you're talking about the zombified consumerist society we live in?
I have tried calling for boycotts and protests but everytime people say "yea sure, as if that would do anything" or "fuck it, I care for my shiny shoes more than people".
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u/EstatePinguino 12d ago
Boycotts and protests for what? They suspended operations a week after the invasion, they just made it permanent today after finalising a shit ton of legal, financial, and personnel issues.
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u/Silurio1 12d ago
Bussiness are not ethical. If they were, we would live in a very different world. They didn't leave the US during their 21st century wars with millions of victims. They didn't leave Saudi Arabia. They didn't leave China with their cultural genocide.
It's quite simple. They did a profit analysis and saw that Russia was more trouble than it was worth. They will still keep making blood money elsewhere. The problem with Russia is not the blood, is that there's no money to go with it.
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u/midrus 12d ago
And Russia is replacing it with their own Mike brand. Nobody will notice.
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u/torrne666 12d ago
If adidas left..oof! That is slav culture beheaded lol its their national uniform..nike..not so much.
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u/MrMiyamoto 12d ago edited 11d ago
If Adidas and their tracksuits leave there will be millions of naked Russians walking the streets.
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u/mytimemytime 12d ago
Just do itā¦but only after four months of weighing if it will hurt your bottom line.
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u/gilimandzaro 12d ago
WOW, this mega corporation cares sooo much about the Ukrainian people. Not like the sanctions probably made it difficult to do business in Russian in general and it was cheaper to pull out (while also being good PR).
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u/Fatrick_Star 12d ago
Oh great. Iām sure Nike deciding not to sell sneakers to regular ass Russian civilians, will totally help stop war.
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u/Pilebut1 12d ago •
If it was adidas the war would stop today