Adidas: the Y1 Huf Shoe Fiasco

There's a blog war raging out there, and it all over the graphic of an Asian charicature featured on one of Adidas's Adicolor shoes. To add insult to injury the image is featured on a shoe, called the Y1 Huf, within the Adicolor yellow line. Get it? The yellow line.

There's a ton of commentary out there, but I think this blogger summed it up best:

First it’s banana’s “geisha line,” now it’s adidas “yellow line.” This is so fucked up… There has been some discussion on blogs about whether this constitutes racism, or whether it is simply an artist’s response to racism. But we think it is, at the very least, a bad marketing decision on the part of adidas. And, taken out of context, it represents an outdated stereotype. Please make your voices heard and let adidas know this is unacceptable.

To put it bluntly, Adidas screwed up. Okay, so the guy who created the image is half-Asian and is known for creating controversial art. Doesn't matter, that kind of art doesn't translate when a massive multi-national corporation is carrying the message. Adidas hasn't apologized yet, but given how much its growth is dependent on sales to Asian customers, it better get a move on and start offering up mia culpas fast.