Adidas Sticks Its Tongue Out at Asians

Posted by Bill Belew on April 10th, 2006 in Asia News | No Comments

Just when Adidas thought they might Kick Some Butt in Asia it seems somebody had a dumb attack.

Adidas has introduced a new line calle the "Yellow Series" and on the tongue of one of these puppies is the picture of a bucked tooth, uh, Asian?  adidas_yellow-thumb.jpg

Talk about stereotyping.

A San Francisco specialty store, HUF, and a Bay Area graffiti artist, Barry McGee (who is part Chinese), also have found waffle tread marks on the embarrassed back sides.

Some Asian-Americans say the image closely resembles anti-Chinese political caricatures of the past and perpetuates negative stereotypes of Asians.

Adidas fought back in the name of art and self-expression.

Hey, Adidas! No, it isn’t! If you hurt people’s feelings, you hurt their feelings!

Only 1000 pairs of the offending shoes have been produced and sold at boutique shoe stores for $250.

I think the price is even MORE offensive, if that is possible.

Hey, Adidas – it’s time for an apology. Remember Abercrombie & Fitch?

  • Share/Bookmark


 

Post a new comment

Your Thoughts

Comments

  1. hector says

    10/04/2006

    I can say that adidas has co existed with the hip-hop culture through its years
    and hip-hop has been spread around the world especially in Asia targeting b-boys
    and b-girls aka (breakers) I believe this shoe was directed for them, though its look
    does appear as a stereotype to the Asian hip-hop culture and very cheesy icon to
    represent its market.

  2. panasianbiz says

    10/04/2006

    Thanks for your comments.
    You may be right but I think the $250 price tag puts it out of reach for most people.

    What do you think?

  3. Jenny says

    10/04/2006

    talk about a dumb attack! You think that Addidas would have done some reserch on what offends the culture before they go and do something so identical to the mistakes that abercrombie made just a few years ago. And to have the audacity to dub the shoes the “yellow line” , my personal oppinion is that they are looking for some media attention and decided to offend a race to get it. They lost points in my book.

  4. panasianbiz says

    11/04/2006

    You would think that companies would be above such a thing as offending ethnic groups just for publicity. But, these days, you never know.

    Adidas topped A&F by doing it twice with one item.

    Thanks for sharing.