Nike Taiwan to be fined over Michael Jordan row

The Fair Trade Commission yesterday decided it would fine Nike Taiwan NT$1 million for the controversial appearance of former NBA star Michael Jordan at a promotional event in May.

"The company's exploitation of unfair and non-transparent information damaged consumers' rights and violated Article 24 of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法)," the commission's vice chairman Chen Chi-yuan (陳紀元) told reporters yesterday.

Jordan's 90-second flash appearance at the show was much shorter than the five minutes Nike Taiwan had planned or the one hour appearance the company had promised consumers, Chen said.

To promote Jordan's name-brand products, Nike arranged in May a road show for the sports superstar in Asian countries, including Taiwan, China and Japan.

The show successfully boosted sales at Nike's 20 outlets nationwide by 616.05 percent between May 7 and 16 prior to the event, 263.94 percent on May 22 -- the day of the event -- and 241.63 percent between May 23 and 30 after the event, the commission said.

However, Jordan's fleeting appearance and Nike Taiwan's "arrogant" response sparked local fans' fury. The fans claimed that the company had tricked Jordan aficionados into forking out huge amounts of money for his name-brand sportswear, and then shortchanged fans by arranging for the "God of Basketball" to appear on stage for less than two minutes.

Many fans spent thousands of NT dollars buying clothes and footwear for a chance to win tickets in a lucky draw, with a handful even spending between NT$15,000 and NT$20,000 purchasing auctioned tickets online.

Nike Taiwan yesterday made a low-key response to the commission's decision, saying that the attorneys were reviewing the content of the rule and that the company could not make any official comment.

The firm will update the US headquarters about the situation and had not decided whether to appeal the ruling, said Jeanne Huang (黃湘燕), Nike Taiwan marketing spokeswoman.

Huang said the company would endeavor to fulfill its promises to sponsor the maintenance of basketball courts in communities nationwide by the end of this year.

The commission's decision did not impress consumer rights organizations, however.

"Belated justice is not justice," said Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏), secretary-general of the Consumers Foundation, adding that the authority should have made a decision within a month after the event.