Nike, social responsibility, and the hidden abode of production

Nike Corporation irrefutably has created wealth for its owners and shareholders, but its rhetoric of social responsibility—its self‐presentation of the corporation as a now global citizen—constitutes a more dubious claim. Nike is not alone in engaging in such marketing practices, but the corporation has long been in the vanguard of innovations in both production and marketing and therefore offers an instructive case study of how multinational corporations produce and manage their public images. This essay looks at the conditions that have made this particular self‐presentation possible for U.S. consumers.