Nike found itself in the middle of a Media spin yesterday after Michael Vick’s agent announced that Michael Vick and Nike had signed a new contract. 

“Mike has had a great relationship with Nike and is excited to be part of the Nike team again,” Joel Segal, an executive at the Best talent agency that represents Michael Vick, told The Sports Business Journal.

Nike has not previously signed deals with professional dog fighters (knowingly and after those dog fighters had served time in prison).  This deal seemed like a new milestone for a corporate giant not known for its work on social fronts.

But then Nike came out and stated they were just giving free product to Michael Vick.  This suddenly sounded less like a multimillion dollar endorsement deal and more like a micro sponsorship from a company that not only gives free products to professional sports stars, but also from time to time to you average person on the street, homeless person or even an ex-con trying to get back on their feet.  Nike HAS acknowledged that they gave Michael Vick some free product.  There seemed to be less contract ($$$) involved and more resume padding by Vick’s agent, who must have one of the worst jobs in the world.

However, obviously, Nike is in need of some corporate soul searching (good luck with that effort, that’s an oxymoron if there ever was one).  But you can bet the Nike PR department is working over time to review policies about giving free products to just any old dog fighter turned pro foot ball player after getting out of prison and getting caught smoking marijuana while awaiting federal sentencing types.  Michael Vick, who represented Nike for years, not only killed dogs, but he made a laughing stock of the Nike swoosh and trademarked slogan ‘Just Do It’.  Michael Vick seemed to take his Nike sponsorhip and that slogan to heart for 6 years as he Just Did all types of illegal, violent and psychotic activities with his corporate endorsement and NFL money.

All in all this story feels like Michael Vick’s agent just jumped a small shark. But then again, corporate greed and Michael Vick’s moral retardation seems to know no bounds, so maybe they were all just testing the waters to see if they could get some mileage out of those dog fighter shoes one more time.