Internet bulletin boards and the Consumers' Foundation have been inundated with complaints by infuriated Michael Jordan fans expressing their disappointment at the the former NBA star's fleeting appearance on Saturday.
The fans claimed that Nike Taiwan had lured Jordan aficionados to fork out huge amounts of money for his name-brand line of sportswear, but arranged for the "God of basketball" to appear on stage for less than two minutes.
Many of the fans spent thousands of NT dollars buying clothes and footwear for the chance to win tickets in a lucky draw, with a handful even spending between NT$15,000 and NT$20,000 purchasing auctioned tickets online.
"Jordan is not the god any more," said a bulletin-board user nicknamed "hiahaok" on one of National Taiwan University's forums.
Another incensed fan, "airpenny," condemned Nike Taiwan, calling it a "legal swindler group."
Some suggested boycotting Nike products.
With an increasing number of complaints being made to the Consumers' Foundation since Saturday, foundation general-secretary Cheng Jen-hung (程仁宏) said it would collect reports from consumers and assist them in seeking compensation from Nike Taiwan.
"According to Article 22 of the Consumer Protection Law (消保法) and Article 21 of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法), we can demand that Nike Taiwan respond with goodwill," Cheng said.
Article 41 of the Fair Trade Act provides for a maximum penalty of NT$25 million if the company is found to have violated the law.
The foundation is scheduled to hold a press conference today to answer the criticisms.
Faced with a flood of accusations, Jeanne Huang (
"We are deeply sorry for this unsatisfactory result," Huang said, repeating her apology three times during a telephone interview yesterday.
Stressing that Nike Taiwan aimed to present the spirit and achievements of Jordan in a creative way, Huang refused to say who was responsible for Jordan's brief appearances -- Jordan himself or her company.
"Although most fans had to purchase Jordan's products to win the tickets, our company has not raked in excessive profits because orders were placed six months ago," she said, denying that the company had swindled its customers.
In compensation, Huang said 700 fans would be given a poster featuring Jordan and priority to attend the next event in Taiwan featuring NBA players.
Taipei Prosecutor's Office Prosecutor-General Morley Shih (
"If Jordan fans file a lawsuit, we'll start investigating," Chief Prosecutor Lin Pang-liang (
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his
‘SOVEREIGN AI’: As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for having computing power of 103 petaflops. The governments wants to achieve 1,200 by 2029 The government would intensify efforts to bolster its “Sovereign Artificial Intelligence [AI]” program by setting a goal of elevating the nation’s collective computing power in the public and private sectors to 1,200 peta floating points per second (petaflops) by 2029, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The goal was set to fulfill President William Lai’s (賴清德) vision of turning Taiwan into an “AI island.” Sovereign AI refers to a nation’s capabilities to produce AI using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks. One petaflop allows 1 trillion calculations per second. As of Nov. 19 last year, Taiwan was globally ranked No. 11 for
STAY WARM: Sixty-three nontraumatic incidents of OHCA were reported on Feb. 1, the most for a single day this year, the National Fire Agency said A total of 415 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurred this month as of Saturday, data from the National Fire Agency showed as doctors advised people to stay warm amid cold weather, particularly people with cardiovascular disease. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a low temperature warning nationwide except for Penghu County, anticipating sustained lows of 10°C or a dip to below 6°C in Nantou, Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as areas north of Yunlin County. The coldest temperature recorded in flat areas of Taiwan proper yesterday morning was 6.4°C in New Taipei City’s Shiding District (石碇). Sixty-three nontraumatic OHCA