Activists press them to decry dogfighting

Don't Miss:'Got Milk' nixed'Amazing Race' proposalSierra snow update: Banzai racingApple glitch partly fixedMost tweeted Olympic sportAtlanta Falcons Men Nike Free 5.0 V3 quarterback Michael Vick faces federal charges in connection with dogfighting that allegedly occurred on his property, but he is meeting swifter justice in the court of corporate responsibility.

Emboldened by the campaign that pressured MSNBC and CBS advertisers and helped oust syndicated disc jockey Don Imus after he made racist and sexist statements earlier this year, animal rights activists aren't waiting for prosecutors to make their case against Vick. They are targeting both Vick's main sponsor, the sportswear behemoth Nike, and the National Football League with well organized campaigns demanding that the two entities distance themselves from Vick and denounce dogfighting.

It's the latest sign of how celebrities can be dethroned when public forces demand accountability from corporate sponsors. And it shows how those forces are using new media organizing tactics to make their points directly.

Quickly organized, small, bicoastal protests on Friday one at Nike's Oregon headquarters, the other outside the NFL's New York office were just the start of multipronged campaigns to increase public pressure on Vick's corporate partners while the wheels of justice creak forward. An online e mail campaign orchestrated by the 10 million member Humane Society which ordinarily targets institutions, not individuals has driven 200,000 messages protesting Vick to NFL headquarters in just a few days.

Next week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) activists plan to demonstrate outside the Falcons' training camp when it begins Thursday, the day that Vick and the three others charged in the indictment are scheduled to appear in federal court in Virginia. Organizers believe it will be the first protest outside a sports franchise for the animal rights organization, which is better known for street theater actions like having its activists ice skate seminude to decry the wearing of animal skins.

While PETA has long protested against celebrities who wear fur, organizers say they are leaping at the opportunity to object to Vick because he is the rare public figure who is alleged to have direct involvement in animal abuse.

Analysts say that appealing directly to Vick's employers and sponsors could provide swifter justice and high visibility for their anti dogfighting campaign than waiting for the court to decide his fate.

"I'm not sure that some consumers want to wait around until the law runs its course," said Dan Rascher, an associate professor of sports management at the University of San Francisco.

To activists horrified by the allegations of animal abuse, there is no time to wait. They do agree that Vick is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. But they say he must take some responsibility immediately for the dead animals found on his property.

"The trial? Who knows how long it could take?" Humane Society of the United States CEO Wayne Pacelle said. "Six months, a year, two years? Michael Vick is going to continue to be a hero to little kids. And when they see that he is associated with dogfighting, and that it's tolerated by the NFL and Nike, they're going to think that it's OK."

"There's the court of law, and there's the court of public opinion," Dan Shannon, assistant director of campaigns for PETA, said. "If people don't take a stand against dogfighting, like Nike and the NFL, they run the risk of being publicly embarrassed as more is found out about what went on" allegedly at Vick's property.

In a letter sent Friday to Nike President Mark Parker, PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich referred to some of the more gruesome allegations in the indictment. "Whether Michael Vick personally doused dogs in water and electrocuted them, hanged them, beat them, (drowned) them, shot them, slammed them into the ground and forced them to fight to the death is a question that will be determined in a court of law," Friedrich wrote, "but Vick will be forever associated with cruelty to animals and so will Nike unless it acts today."

So far, both of Vick's corporate connections have stuck by him, but that could change early next week, at least as far as Vick's NFL career is concerned.

"The alleged activities are very disturbing, and we are extremely disappointed Michael Vick has put himself in this position," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in a statement Friday.

Earlier this week, Nike said it would suspend the release of the Zoom Vick V shoe, scheduled to hit stores Aug. 23. In a statement released Thursday, the company said it "is concerned by the serious and highly disturbing allegations made against Michael Vick, and we consider any cruelty to animals inhumane and abhorrent. We do believe that Michael Vick should be afforded the same Men Nike Free 3.0 Run + 2S due process as any citizen; therefore, we have not terminated our relationship."

But activists shouldn't expect Nike to roll over quickly.

"Nike has a long tradition of standing by its athletes. It's one of the things that gives them credibility among professional athletes," said Fred Schreyer, who was Nike's director of sports marketing for seven years and is a former sports agent. He is now commissioner of the Professional Bowlers Association.

Though he personally considers the allegations in the indictment abhorrent, Schreyer expects Nike to wait until the legal process concludes, "because they have nike free australia the luxury of doing that. Their business is so diverse. And part of Nike's image is to be controversial."

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