Nike pulls ads on anti-gay concerns: report

(Reuters) - The world's largest sportswear and shoe company Nike Inc (NKE.N) has pulled some advertisements that appeared to send out anti-gay messages, according to the online edition of The Oregonian newspaper.

The newspaper said controversy arose last week over some advertisements for Nike's new Hyperdunk basketball shoes. The ads were dubbed homophobic by bloggers and critics, the paper said.

Concerns were first raised by the weblog, www.gawker.com, the Oregonian said. The blog post can be seen here sketball.

Under a post titled "Does Nike Hate Gays? Or Do Gays Hate Basketball?" the blog said the ads showed a basketball player's face in the groin area of another player seemingly dunking a ball. Gawker also carried a picture of the ad on the blog.

The picture was accompanied by slogans like "This ain't right" and the blog said the ads appeared offensive to African-Americans too. The two players featured in the picture looked African-American.

"Nike should pull the ads. Or rework them to be friendlier to gay basketball fans, at least," the blog said in its post.

The Oregonian's report published on Saturday quoted a Nike spokesman, Bob Applegate, saying three separate poster and billboard ads would be taken down in Portland, Oregon "as expeditiously as possible." The ads also appeared in New York City streets and subway tunnels, the paper said.

Nike did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

(Reporting by Varsha Tickoo in Bangalore; Editing by David Holmes)