Adidas plunges into the next culture clash with a Pride swimsuit

Yellow, pink and orange, the latest Adidas issue features fluid designs, colors and patterns – and is a swimsuit. Unlike last time, in the case of the sneakers designed by Kanye West, the new problem facing the sporting goods company from Herzogenaurach is not about discrimination against certain groups, in fact the opposite is actually true. The swimsuit should include people, be explicitly inclusive. And that is precisely why it has become a problem, especially for representatives of the right. They are bothered by the latest product from Adidas, a colorful swimsuit for all genders, i.e. a model that men can also wear. And the criticism goes so far that some shareholders are already afraid of a boycott campaign against Adidas.

Adidas wouldn’t be the first example of an LGBTQ* campaign triggering a shitstorm. In the USA in particular, conservatives are working intensively on the issue and are calling for a boycott of various brands under the slogan “Get Woke, Go Broke”. Most recently, the largest American beer brand, Bud Light, felt the effects. A marketing campaign featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney was followed by a shitstorm from the right. Musician Kid Rock even shot Bud Light beer cans with a semi-automatic gun. The brand’s sales collapsed by a quarter, and today the share is still ten percent lower.

Shareholders now fear a similar scenario at Adidas. In fact, the critics’ campaign has caused quite a stir. Terms like “Adidas Pride” and “Adidas woke” were searched for in leaps and bounds, especially in the USA – and especially in republican states like South Dakota or Mississippi. The debate was also fueled by former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who accused Adidas of “attacking women”.

In Germany, this trend has not yet been reflected in search queries. A brief discussion broke out on Twitter at the weekend after CDU politician Frank Somogyi sharply attacked Adidas’ product launch from the shareholder’s point of view. But little of it got through to the outside world. Somogyi has apparently deleted his tweet in the meantime.

Hard culture wars in the USA

In any case, the USA seems to be the much hotter place for companies. The “Get Woke, Go Broke” campaigns are becoming more frequent and louder there. The term “woke” means something like “to be awake” and initially referred to racial discrimination. Meanwhile, conservatives in the US are using it in derogatory terms, complaining that they think taking action against various forms of discrimination goes too far. For example, they are up in arms about children being educated about transsexuality in schools.

The topic emotionalizes, which is probably why it is so popular among US politicians. Only about one percent of the US population does not feel that they belong to any biological gender. Nevertheless, hundreds of laws have been passed this year that regulate toilet visits, exclude trans women from women’s sports or ban drag shows.

Companies are therefore walking a fine line in terms of how aggressively they want to appeal to the LGBTQ audience. This also and especially applies to Adidas, which has just had a culture war with US rapper Kanye West. For many years, West brought in billions for the German group with its “Yeezy” sneakers, most recently accounting for 7.5 percent of total sales. But West became increasingly erratic, accusing Adidas of stealing their designs and spreading numerous conspiracy ideologies along the way. When West made repeated anti-Semitic remarks last year, Adidas, itself a company with a Nazi past, finally pulled the ripcord.

The Herzogenaurach-based company not only foregoes annual sales of around EUR 1.2 billion, but also one of its most important brand ambassadors. Brand experts like Florian Riedmüller still consider the step necessary: ​​”The moment Kanye West violated Adidas’ set values, they had to terminate the contract. It would have been the same with any other star and any other brand. Nike has I did that with Tiger Woods, for example, although the cooperation was very successful.”

But the point at which Adidas released its Pride swimsuit is also interesting. Because almost at the same time as the launch, the group announced that it would sell the remaining Yeezy sneakers for a good cause. There will be no new collection. This was an important cut for shareholders because it gives planning security. But Adidas is now directly opening up the next flank with the product by the South African designer Rich Mnisi. How much calculation is behind it is difficult to estimate. Adidas itself does not want to comment on the product on request – nor on the question of whether the swimsuit will remain in the shop despite the criticism.

Gulden wants to calm down Adidas

Actually, the excitement cannot be in the interests of the new CEO Björn Gulden. The 57-year-old wants to steer Adidas back into calmer waters by returning to old strengths. In the first half of the year under Gulden, remarkably little happened, which, it is said, was just as intended. The Norwegian cleaned up internally, settled the smoldering margin conflict with specialist retailers and put the focus back on sporting goods and thus a bit far away from fashion – one of the core areas of ex-boss Kasper Rorsted. However, it will probably take many months, maybe even years, before this change in strategy translates into new products.

The most likely variant is therefore as follows: Adidas underestimated the reactions. Because the swimsuit is visually illustrated not only by a man (from a purely biological point of view), but also by a woman. The product is aimed not only at queer people, but also at them. And this is how Adidas describes its latest problem: “We are all unique, but love connects us to each other.” However, Adidas misjudged the second part of the description. It reads: “The eye-catching print ensures a lot of good mood and positive vibes.”