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The New York Times again: racism sells -- don't buy it.
Racism sells newspapers, and I know it firsthand. You need to know it, too, and you need to take action against it.
For Timberland it started like this. The New York Times came to us to do a story about the growing popularity of the Timberland brand, focusing particularly on Timberland as a phenomenon among young inner-city consumers. We thought, in our profound naivete, that this would be a terrific opportunity to talk not only about our growth but, more important, about our significant and longstanding beliefs and actions in the urban community.
What happened instead was a character assassination in which readers universally concluded that I am a racist, and that Timberland is a racist company. Clearly, the crime was premeditated, with the additional insult of my having served as an unwitting accomplice to this crime.
Then, what I found unspeakably disturbing and what leads me to share this with you is the self-feeding media avalanche of insinuation and lies that followed the New York Times story -- stories and commentary that not only compounded...