Sportswear company Adidas faced the wrath of people on social media after misspelling Colombia as 'Columbia' in ads featuring the national football team in new jerseys for the Copa America Centenario
Sportswear company Adidas stoked a controversy and faced the wrath of people, especially Colombians, on social media after misspelling Colombia in ads featuring the national football team in new jerseys for the Copa America Centenario.
ADVERTISEMENT
The company had to quickly apologise and pull the ads, which showed Colombian players in their white home jerseys, after people took to social media to ridicule them for misspelling the country as 'Columbia'.
The offending ad
The brand said in a statement, "We value our partnership with the Colombian Football Federation and apologise for our mistake. We removed these graphics and are quickly installing new versions today."
The brand is facing the crucible over a glaring typo (that I also made when drafting this article) in its advertising, mistaking Colombia for 'Columbia'.
Images from the brand's outdoor advertising drive in the US went viral on Twitter with people blasting the company for their mistake.
Adidas has been provding the uniforms for the Colombian national team, which is ranked No. 3 in the world, since 2011.
Here are some of the tweets:
It´s Colombia, Not Columbia. @adidas pic.twitter.com/arXXJmI6D2
— Noticias Millos (@NoticiasMillos) June 9, 2016
Adidas suffers the wrath of Colombia with 'Columbia' typo ads https://t.co/qcs5J4hAWC pic.twitter.com/LnRCBz3nz2
— (((Wellbelove))) (@wellbelove) June 9, 2016
If you know that the country name is spelled "Colombia" and not "Columbia," you're ahead of Adidas. https://t.co/ELeKeV5rnR
— consumerist (@consumerist) June 9, 2016
#ItsColombiaNotColumbia unfortunate yet unacceptable mistake @adidassoccer https://t.co/upqvbrRmdn lesson for rest of Corporate America.
— Ricardo Arias-Nath (@rickyarias) June 9, 2016
Sad to hear that this was a typo and not our first pro team. @procolombiaco is excellent - https://t.co/zVHqN64JMh
— Columbia University (@Columbia) June 8, 2016
Congratulations to Columbia University on their new adidas deal! Pero... ¿Que? https://t.co/2UmwRK0ruN pic.twitter.com/tvtsL0UbmW
— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) June 8, 2016
@adidasUS We are COLOMBIA Not #Columbia. @adidas @adidasCO pic.twitter.com/UpGh0UzbkK
— Christian Castro (@ARQUlTECTO) June 7, 2016