Nike Inc. made a decision to replace its signature ‘Just Do It’ slogan on some T-shirts with the phrases ‘Dope’, ‘Get High’ and ‘Ride Pipe’

Nike Inc. made a decision to replace its signature ‘Just Do It’ slogan on some T-shirts with the phrases ‘Dope’, ‘Get High’ and ‘Ride Pipe’ and now the apparel giant is under-fire for its decision. All the anti-drug groups are blasting Nike for putting such drug-use promoting phrases on its T-shirt and have asked the company to take them off the market.

Nike defended itself by saying that this is the language which is being used by the skaters and snowboarders and other extreme sports participants these days and it is currently trying to target this market with its shirts. Critics maintain nonetheless, that such slogans endorse drug use.

An antidrug group in Oregon, has gone all out in making sure that Nike removes these shirts from the market. The group has already sent a letter to 1,500 people, including some at The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. In the letter, the group has urged everyone to put pressure on Nike so that the company removes these shirts from the market and modifies its slogan. "It's gone past edgy," said Tom Parker, spokesman for the Oregon Partnership. "Sure it is the language of skateboarders and surfers, but it's also the language of addicts."

When the mayor of Boston saw these T-shirts put up on display, it asked Nike to remove them immediately. Mayor Thomas M. Menino then sent a letter to the general manager of a Niketown store in a shopping district in Boston, asking them to be careful next time, and also saying that the company did not seem to take drug use seriously.

"Your window display of T-shirts with drug and profanity wordplay are out of keeping with the character of Boston's Back Bay, our entire city and our aspirations for our young people ... not to mention common sense," Menino said in the letter.

These shirts became available in the market on the 1st of June, and these are part of an action sports campaign which the company is promoting at the moment. Even though some of the shirts are controversial, not all of them have such terms on them. Other shirts have phrases on them like ‘F Gravity’ and ‘Get Wet’.

Nike which is based Beaverton, Ore., has come to its defense by saying that this particular campaign surrounds extreme sports and not illegal drug use. "Sport is an antidote to drugs," Nike spokeswoman Erin Dobson said in a statement. "There is no better adrenalin rush than catching a wave or landing a trick. The language is the same that skaters, BMX'er's and surfers use every day around the world."

It seems that this battle will go on for some time and one of the parties will have to succumb to this pressure eventually.