“Feel-Good Marketing Without The Hard Work”: Woman Calls Out Nike For Their Amputee Marketing

Companies need to put their money where their mouths are. If you advertise a product or a service, then you need to be able to provide it. Otherwise, you’ll end up pushing away customers who might otherwise be big fans of your brand. Luckily, there are people out there who have the courage to fight for what’s right.

Paralympian, world champion, and executive coach Stef Reid went viral on social media and the news for calling out athletic footwear and apparel giant Nike and other companies. These brands use amputee mannequins. However, they do not offer the ability to purchase just one running shoe. Read on for the full story. Bored Panda has reached out to Reid, and we’ll update the article as soon as we hear back from her.

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"Two friends recently sent me photos of mannequins in Nike stores with running blades. And I thought this was awesome. But then I asked the obvious question."

"The answer was 'no'. They offered a one time 10% discount, which I said was very kind, but next time I buy running shoes, I'm still only going to have one foot, so it's not really a solution."

"They upped it to 15%, which I declined, and they then promised to take the issue to their 'higher ups'."

"It's been nine days, and I still haven't heard from Nike. However, I did discover that other sports brands are also using blade runners to sell their shoes."

"So I asked them if they sold shoes as singles. Again, the answer was 'no'."

"Now I love that companies are using amputee mannequins, but if you are going to use the image, you have to back it up in the way that you do business."

“It's really expensive and I'm going to buy this [pair] and I'm going to throw half away. This just seems a little bit silly. I would never have gone down this route but when a company is using the image [of amputee runners in promotional material], they're making a statement that they want to be diverse and inclusive,” Reid told Reuters in an interview.

Meanwhile, Nike, which offered Reid a 15% discount on the pair of shoes, had this to say to Reuters: “At Nike, we stand for all athletes, and sponsor a number of Para athletes and federations around the world and work with them across all forms of movement.”

According to Nike, their ‘One Shoe Bank’ program in the US offers single shoes out of their Memphis distribution center. “Taking the learnings from the program, we are hoping to expand it to more geographies in the future.”

Reid’s video, where she called out various companies’ business practices, went massively viral. At the time of writing, it has 4.4 million views on TikTok. Meanwhile, the story was picked up by major outlets worldwide, including news titans like the BBC, Reuters, and The Guardian. This just goes to show that people really do care about the issue.

In a follow-up clip, which was viewed 182k times, the Paralympian also answered some of the top questions that she received from her audience, clarifying a few things they had on their mind.

It’s not just Nike that uses amputee mannequins to promote its products. Reid noted that Brands like Decathlon and Brooks do so as well. The reality is that if you use mannequins and images to advertise your products, you really do need to back it up with how you do business. Or, to put it very simply, if you advertise a single shoe, you need to be able to sell a single shoe.

Doing anything less feels like a betrayal of your customer base, and it’s also corrosive to a brand’s reputation and public image. It makes consumers wonder what else these companies might pretend to do that they don’t follow through on. There needs to be honesty and authenticity in marketing.

“Of course companies want to brand themselves as inclusive. The problem is feel good marketing without the hard work. It has to be supported by changes in policies and procedures across your business,” Reid writes on TikTok.

Reid isn’t the only one driving the conversation forward. Paralympic athlete Sophie Kamlish told the BBC that companies should do more. “Nike are using the image of inclusion, which is really cool. You wouldn't have seen that a few years ago, but they're not being as helpful when it comes to buying one shoe," she said.

"It's irritating and annoying because I've got these perfectly good shoes just hanging around my house that I have to throw in the bin, or not use at all.”

Kamlish told the BBC that she has actually found someone with an opposite-side amputation to swap shoes with. "But it's quite a rarity to be able to find that sole-mate," she said that she was very lucky.

According to her bio, Reid is a world champion (2017), a four-time Paralympian, a triple Paralympic medallist (2008, 2012, 2016), and a five-time world record holder.

She holds a degree in biochemistry and is also a keynote speaker, broadcaster, executive coach, actor, and fashion model. In fact, Reid was the first amputee to walk the London Fashion Week catwalk. She also competed in the Tokyo 2021 Paralympics and took part in the British reality show Dancing on Ice 2022.

Reid was born in New Zealand to Scottish and English parents but grew up in Toronto. She then moved to Dallas with her Canadian husband before settling down in the UK in 2010. When she was 15, she was involved in a boating accident and part of her right leg had to be amputated.

While studying at Queen’s University in Canada, Reid joined the athletics team, starting an impressive Paralympic career. She announced her retirement from sports in June 2022 and now focuses on inspiring and motivating others to “find their version of High Performance.”