If Adidas is promoting Manchester United, perhaps it doesn’t want to also advertise one of its biggest rivals.
Earlier this year, Adidas won the rights away from Nike to sell branded Man U gear in a massive $1.3 billion deal for 10 years. The rollout has finally started in its online store, beginning with these throwback track jackets and pants.
There’s just one problem.
An eagle-eyed Twitter user noticed something unusual about the pants:
Mess up by Adidas! Retro United tracksuit. No problem about that but shame the guy is wearing retro Chelsea pants! pic.twitter.com/9P5OHSVPEK
— Andrew Yee (@andrewyee) October 12, 2015
The pants are stitched with a Chelsea Football Club logo, an arch competitor of Man U. The “cock-up” is somewhat understandable since Adidas is also Chelsea’s official sponsor, but it’s unlikely a fan of either of those teams will mix and match an outfit like this.
Needless to say, die-hard soccer fans weren’t pleased:
Ad position: web_incontent_pos1
Man U jacket with Chelsea track pants. Fire the stylist. @adidasoriginals pic.twitter.com/K1C6T70i3S
— ebun. (@mrLBF) October 13, 2015
@ManUtd there is something wrong with this marketing https://t.co/WQIaz187Oe #checkthetrousers #mufc #notCFC
— Ken Huang (@kenhuang7) October 8, 2015
Ad position: web_incontent_pos2
Adidas pulled the listing offline and it with the same model wearing matching Man U pants.
More in Marketing
In the marketing world, anime is following in the footsteps of gaming
As marketers look to take advantage of anime’s entry into the zeitgeist, they might be wise to observe the parallels between the evolution of anime as a marketing channel and the ways brands have learned to better leverage gaming in recent years.
With the introduction of video ads and e-commerce, Roblox looks to attain platform status
Roblox is expanding into more areas than just ads in 2024. Much like platforms such as Amazon and Facebook have transcended their origins to evolve from their origins as online marketplaces and social media channels, Roblox is in the midst of a transformation into a platform for all elements of users’ virtual lives.
PepsiCo wants to remain a ‘driver of culture’ as it turns to influencers and activations amid rebrand
The soda-maker says it can translate cultural relevance into sales volume.
Ad position: web_bfu