Adidas is slammed for launching women’s swimsuit by a male model
Adidas has sparked calls for a boycott after launching a new range of women’s swimwear using what appears to be a man as the model.
The company was accused of ‘erasing women’ and is the latest target of conservative anger over ‘woke’ marketing, after Bud Light saw sales drop last month following outrage over its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
The swimsuit range is part of Adidas’s’Pride 2023 collection, and is for sale on the website in the women’s section.
However, the model showing off the swimwear has a hairy chest and a bulge in the crotch area. It’s not stated whether the model identifies as a man or as trans.
The swimsuit was created by South African designer Rich Mnisi and released to honour Pride Month. Adidas have said the swim suit is ‘a celebration of self-expression, imagination and the unwavering belief that love unites’.
The choice of the model for the swimwear caused outrage on social media.
A ‘BoycottAdidas’ hashtag has begun trending and high-profile athletes have hit out at the company.
‘Women’s swimsuits aren’t accessorized with a bulge,’ U.S. swim star turned women’s rights activist Riley Gaines tweeted.
‘I don’t understand why companies are voluntarily doing this to themselves. They could have at least said the suit is “unisex”, but they didn’t because it’s about erasing women.’
Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also hit out at Adidas, asking: ‘Who is telling these major corporations to alienate women, half the population, in order to market to trans which are less than 1%?
‘Businesses are for profit, not for politics. It doesn’t make sense. Who is telling them to do this?’
South Carolina representative Nancy Mace said: ‘I’m old enough to remember when women actually modeled women’s bathing suits, not men.’
‘Adidas launches new women’s swimwear range, the “Pride Collection” — using MALES to model sports bras and WOMEN’S swimsuits, Oh f**k off. Honestly,’ another person said.