In International Business, Cultural Knowledge is Power
In 2013, Nike initiated a women’s athletic clothing line patterned after traditional Pacific tattoos. The line quickly received backlash, however, due to cultural insensitivities. One Polynesian native said “To the outside world it’s just a design. But to my Polynesian people, it’s sacred.” Nike’s mistake was that the pattern they chose for the women’s leggings resembled the Samoan Pe’a, atattoo reserved for men. Receiving the Pe’a is an often long and painful process. Origin