What were Nike thinking?

They have a $3 billion dollar budget worldwide for marketing and the best they can come up with for the Irish this St. Patrick's Day is the 'Black and Tan' sneaker.

Did no one at this giant company just check on Google exactly what most Irish relate the term Black and Tan to?

It was the equivalent of Al-Qaeda for a generation of Irish during the War of Independence. A bunch of merciless thugs and scum, many from British prisons, released on the Irish to kill and shoot as many as possible and terrorize them into subjection.

Surely not a fitting name for a St.Patrick's Day-themed pair of sneakers?

Nike made the elementary mistake of linking their product to a drink called Black and Tan on sale in some bars. But the drink has nothing like the world wide reputation or impact that the original term does.
-----------------
Read more: 
Sh**e Irish parents say on St. Patrick's Day to their American kids

GOP Senator Grassley still blocking Irish and hi-tech immigration bill in US Senate
-----------------
It is a marketing strategy straight out of the "Nova," the car marketed in Hispanic countries which means "no go," and the Ford Probe, which reminded every woman of a gynecological inspection.

It is up there with Umbro marketing Zyklon runners a few years back in Israel -- Zyklon B was the form of gas that killed millions of innocent Jews in the Holocaust.

The sheen has come off Nike in recent years with lots of issues around child labor in their Far East sweat shops.

This latest gaffe will certainly not help with Irish Americans and neither should it.

Nike should just do it -- get rid of these offensive sneakers.