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Adidas rejects calls to drop Kanye West
By Andy Malt | Published on Friday 4 May 2018
Adidas is aware of the calls for it to cut its ties with Kanye West, following his controversial comments on slavery earlier this week. It won’t though, because he provides the firm too much “brand heat”.
A petition was launched targeting Adidas in the wake of West’s controversial appearance on TMZ Live, on which he said that 400 years of slavery “sounds like a choice”. At the time of writing, ove 13,000 people have signed it.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted said that there had been no discussion about dropping West. However, he added, “there clearly are some comments we don’t support”, and reps for the company plan to raise their concerns with the rapper.
West has partnered with Adidas on his Yeezy clothing line since 2013. Rorsted said that these items bring in limited revenues for the company, but West offers considerable “brand heat” for the business at large.
With the company locked in a full-on battle with Nike to secure the dollars of US consumers, this sort of endorsement remains as important as ever. Although some might ask if principles are also quite a good look.
