In causes a lot of controversy due to the Cold War and fear of communism. Nike receives a small dip in their gross revenue. In the 1990s, Nike spends more than $100 Million in advertising alone (Acaria). In the late 1990's, the popularity of what the industry calls "brown shoes" took off; these shoes took away twenty percent of athletic shoes sales and Nike's profits dropped 69% in the one quarter (Jenkins 1). Nike saw a few drops in revenue but overcame them and now this controversy has caused a drop itself.
The controversy about the conditions and wages in the Nike factories has several different parts and findings. There have been allegations that "Nikehas been dogged for most of the decade by well-documented charges that its closely controlled contractors pay sub minimum wages, prefer countries with regimes that suppress labor organizing, expose workers to hazardous conditions, demand long working hours and even physically abuse employees at Nike's Southeast Asian factories"(Moberg). To break these allegations down some more, it has been alleged that 13-15 year old children have been working for up to 17 hours a day making the equivalent of $0.15 an hour. There were also allegations that there was physical and verbal abuse in the workplace. More than 2,000 workers (57% of respondents) indicated that they had seen workers being shouted at or mistreated by supervisors or managers. Examples of verbal abuse given by the workers included the Indonesian equivalent of phrases like 'Fuck You!' 'You Idiot! ', 'You Whore!' and 'You Pig!' Examples of mistreatment included wage deductions, having their ears pulled, being pinched or slapped on the buttock, being forced to run around the factory yards and having to stand for hours in factory yards (being 'dried in the sun'). Workers also complained that they are forced to work excessive amounts of overtime, that it is often extremely hot in work rooms, that access to drinking water is limited and that they receive very low wages.
