A video is circulating on the “Tamil Guardian” YouTube Channel of an unboxing video of a pair of white customized trainer shoes with the insignia of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) reading, “The Sri Lankan government has released a statement of complaint to the American sportswear corporation ‘NIKE’ after the video clip of a pair of customized trainers that attracted the attention of officials in Colombo”, published on July 31, 2021. The same video footage was released to the official Twitter page of the “Tamil Guardian” on the same day.
Source: ‘Tamil Guardian’ YouTube Channel
Source: ‘Tamil Guardian’ Twitter Account
This white and red shoe in the video has the LTTE insignia on its toe cap and two soldiers appear carrying guns with the LTTE flag on the outer ankle part of the shoe. On the back of the shoe is a map of Sri Lanka marked in red, symbolizing the conquest of Sri Lanka by the LTTE during the Eelam Civil War.
Source: ‘Tamil Guardian’ YouTube Channel
This news drew the attention of the world-famous multinational corporation, “NIKE, Inc.” and the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka. According to the official inquiry of the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka, NIKE, Inc. has insisted that the company did not manufacture such a footwear product that carries the LTTE insignia and that the company will investigate this issue of the abuse of intellectual property and take appropriate measures. Moreover, no such footwear product has been displayed on the official website of NIKE, Inc.
Conclusively, the video in circulation indicates that a pair of footwear products with LTTE insignia was manufactured by NIKE, Inc. is a fake video and that has been released with the intention of arousing ethnic hatred while violating the intellectual property rights.
