Anti-ad group tries advertising

From the New York Times:

"The Adbusters Media Foundation, an advocacy group based in Vancouver, Canada, that wants to reduce marketers' influence over culture, is getting into the marketing game itself - with sneakers meant to nip at Nike's heels.

An ad campaign promotes the first consumer product offering from Adbusters, Blackspot sneakers, selling for $47.50, plus shipping and handling.

They are made of hemp fabric in a Portuguese factory where workers receive pay higher than the country's minimum wage and where many belong to a union. People who buy the sneakers receive what the company calls a "shareholder certificate" for Blackspot Anticorporation, giving them a voice in future anticorporate decisions of the venture if it succeeds. The shares are not traded, and the anticorporation is not listed on any exchange.

"Rethink the cool," a planned billboard ad says, next to a black, scrawled rendering of the famous Nike swoosh.

" Viacom Outdoor standards and practices policy does not allow for trademark infringement, which may be the case here," said Dana McClinton, a spokesman for the billboard owner. Lawyers for Adbusters and Nike are conferring on the issue."