Home Library Translate
A A A
Share »
Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on LinkedIn
Connect »

Blog: Crisis Management

Menu

  • This Blog's Home
  • Guest Writer Submissions
  • Policies
  • To Subscribe to a Blog
  • About
  • Feedback

Shoe Shackles Raise Consumer’s Hackles

By Jonathan & Erik Bernstein on June 22, 2012

Thoughtless design leads to crisis for Adidas

When it comes to business, it’s essential to have the ability to step back and look at decisions or products from an outsider’s point of view. If you don’t, being part of the internal process could blind your entire organization when it comes to potential negative reactions to, or results from, its actions.

Adidas found this out first hand last week, when it released an image of an upcoming shoe on Facebook, the JS Roundhouse Mid, that features a bright orange plastic chain and shackle dangling from the heel. Immediately, the Adidas Facebook was swamped by comments blasting the company for being racist and promoting slavery with its shoe design.

How’d Adidas handle the situation? Here’s their initial response, and the follow up that put a halt to the issue, from a PRDaily article by Michael Sebastian:

First, Adidas weighed in with this comment (to Fox News):

“The JS Roundhouse Mid is part of the Fall/Winter 2012 design collaboration between Adidas Originals and Jeremy Scott. The design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott’s outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery.

“Jeremy Scott is renowned as a designer whose style is quirky and lighthearted and his previous shoe designs for Adidas Originals have, for example, included panda heads and Mickey Mouse. Any suggestion that this is linked to slavery is untruthful.”

Notice the company stopped short of apologizing; it didn’t even issue one of those “we’re sorry if someone was offended” non-apologies.

 

Shortly after issuing that statement, Adidas chimed in again, saying it won’t release the controversial sneakers in August and, in fact, issuing the “we’re sorry if you’re offended” apology. To wit (via New York Daily News ):

“Since the shoe debuted on our Facebook page ahead of its market release in August, Adidas has received both favorable and critical feedback. We apologize if people are offended by the design and we are withdrawing our plans to make them available in the marketplace.”

Although Adidas did miss what should have been a fairly obvious fact, that placing shackles on a shoe marketed strongly to an African-American demographic would create loads of ill will, the athletic shoe giant did a solid job of stopping the crisis before it got out of control. The initial response shared facts and explained very clearly that the shoe absolutely was not meant in any way to be associated with slavery. When public opinion continued to spiral downhill, Adidas decided to apologize and pull the plug on the shoe altogether. Although it undoubtedly lost them money in the short term to do so, the reputation saved will be worth infinitely more in the long run.

——————————-
For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
——————————-

[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training, and co-host of The Crisis Show. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

« Previous Next »

Search Our Site

Meet this Blog’s Co-Hosts

Jonathan L. Bernstein, founder and Chairman of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. has more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of crisis management – crisis response, vulnerability assessment, planning, training and simulations.[Read more ...]


Erik Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management. Erik started with BCM in 2009 as a writer and subsequently became social media manager for the consultancy itself as well as for a number of BCM clients before moving to the president position. [Read more ...]

Recent Blog Posts

  • Are You Prepared For 2021? New Crisis Management Survey Out Now
  • Crisis Preparedness and Response Is About To Get Tougher
  • How to Create a Crisis Management Plan to Respond to a Cyber Breach
  • Audi’s ‘Insensitive Ad’, or Why you always ask how else an image could be interpreted.
  • The Road To Crisis Recovery
  • Preparing DURING The Pandemic
  • Coronavirus: What You CAN Control
  • Southwest’s COVID-19 Crisis Communications And What You Need To Be Doing
  • Crisis Manager On The Spot…Quick Coronavirus Crisis Communications Tips
  • A Hallmark Apology

Categories of Posts

  • Avoid the Apology
  • college crises
  • communications
  • conflict resolution
  • Crisis Assessment
  • Crisis Avoidance
  • crisis communications
  • crisis management
  • Crisis Management Quotables
  • crisis planning
  • crisis preparedness
  • Crisis Prevention
  • crisis public relations
  • Crisis Response
  • crisis training
  • customer service
  • cyber attacks
  • cyber bullying
  • cybersecurity
  • data breach
  • Dealing With Media
  • Digital Media Law Project
  • disaster crisis management
  • disaster prevention
  • Disaster Response
  • disease crisis management
  • emergency management
  • Erik Bernstein
  • ethics
  • Facebook
  • food industry crisis management
  • hackers
  • hacking
  • Higher Education
  • hospitality
  • HR
  • information security
  • Internal Communications
  • internet crisis management
  • internet security
  • Jonathan Bernstein
  • Journalistic ethics
  • Law
  • Litigation PR
  • litigation-related crisis management
  • Media Relations
  • media training
  • online crisis management
  • Online Reputation Management
  • political crisis management
  • PR
  • preventable crises
  • privacy breach
  • privacy violation
  • Public Relations
  • recall crisis management
  • Reputation Management
  • Risk Management
  • SEO
  • social media
  • social media crisis management
  • social media policy
  • social media reputation management
  • sports crisis management
  • violence prevention
  • vulnerability audit
  • Weiner Awards
  • workplace violence

Blogroll

  • Bernstein Crisis Management Blog
  • Jonathan Bernstein's HuffPost Blog
  • The Crisis Show

Related Library Topics

  • Assessments
  • Business Insurance
  • Computer Security
  • Coordinating Activities
  • Crisis Management
  • Employment Laws
  • Ethical Analysis
  • Lawyers (Using)
  • Managing Change
  • Marketing
  • Media Relations
  • Organizational Communications
  • Planning
  • Public Relations
  • Risk Management
  • Safety in Workplace
  • Bernstein Crisis Management Blog

Library's Blogs

  • Boards of Directors
  • Building a Business
  • Business Communications
  • Business Ethics, Culture and Performance
  • Business Planning
  • Career Management
  • Coaching and Action Learning
  • Consulting and Organizational Development
  • Crisis Management
  • Customer Service
  • Facilitation
  • Free Management Library Blogs
  • Fundraising for Nonprofits
  • Human Resources
  • Leadership
  • Marketing and Social Media
  • Nonprofit Capacity Building
  • Project Management
  • Quality Management
  • Social Enterprise
  • Spirituality
  • Strategic Planning
  • Supervision
  • Team Building and Performance
  • Training and Development
About Feedback Legal Privacy Policy Contact Us
Free Management Library, © Copyright Authenticity Consulting, LLC ®; All rights reserved.
  • Graphics by Wylde Hare LLC
  • Website maintained by Caitlin Cahill

By continuing to use this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy.X