According to the article I just read on CNN.com - Nike doesn't seem to see drug heavy references on the pictured t-shirts in their own display window...while I know that they are appealing to the X-treme sport market - COME ON guys...at least admit to the purposeful ambiguity of DOPE and GET HIGH - I'd have to consult some skaters and snowboarders...maybe even some BMXers but does anyone say GET HIGH?!? Am I so out of touch that I don't know this...I mean, I'm sure the goal is to get higher but...is the phrase "Get High" part of the X-treme sport vernacular? I consulted the Urban Dictionary - there is no definition listed related to X-treme Sports...so if I'm out of the loop so is the Urban Dictionary...
I'm sure a majority of parents don't want their middle schooler or even high schooler wearing a shirt with the F word on it...but I don't see a direct drug reference either and I kind of like it but wouldn't wear it b/c I'm not young or cool enough...pick your battles, I guess...I guess when you're trying to break in a market that has been largely dominated by Vans, Volcom, QuickSilver and the like...you have to find a niche...but I believe the point will be proven when I see a dude on the news who has never exerted any X-treme energy in his life arrested for possession with intent to distribute wearing his Nike Dope shirt...
This is one of those things that has changed in me...I see the humor in these shirts...and I see the slang words but I also see the double meaning...and so now...all I see is a 8 yo with saggy britches, a sideways ball cap and a t-shirt with the words GET HIGH covering his entire torso toting a skateboard...I most specifically picture this really cute blond foul mouthed 2nd grader from day camp wearing this shirt...he was my favorite and certainly impressionable...even in 2nd grade he would have known what GET HIGH and DOPE meant...
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