German sports apparel maker Adidas has canceled the release of the controversial JS Roundhouse sneaker, which featured rubber ankle shackles, after a huge public outcry, reports CNN.com.
The advertising for the shoe premiered on the Adidas Original Facebook page on June 14 with the caption:
“Got a sneaker game so hot you lock your kicks to your ankles?”
“Wow obviously there was no one of color in the room when the marketing/product team ok’d this,” said a commenter identifying herself as MsRodwell on nicekicks.com.
Adidas defended the shoe’s designer Jeremy Scott by saying that he was just being “quirky” and “lighthearted,” but Rev. Jesse Jackson is but one of the leaders in the Black community who disagrees:
“The attempt to commercialize and make popular more than 200 years of human degradation, where blacks were considered three-fifths human by our Constitution is offensive, appalling and insensitive,” Jackson said in a statement Monday.
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Still never taking responsibility for the cultural insensitivity of the design, Adidas issued the following statement:
“The design of the JS Roundhouse Mid is nothing more than the designer Jeremy Scott’s outrageous and unique take on fashion and has nothing to do with slavery,” the statement said. “We apologize if people are offended by the design and we are withdrawing our plans to make them available in the marketplace.”
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