Adidas’ Snail Rhythm on Social Media Crisis

The speed of content dissemination on social media platforms is astonishing, which can help brands spread product advantages and conduct marketing activities, thereby increasing awareness and influence. On the other hand, when negative content appears, the rapid spread of social media can also cause events to ferment rapidly, and sometimes even faster than positive news. This creates a social media crisis that can trigger widespread negative public reactions and pose a significant threat to brand image. Whether to properly handle social media crises is a crucial step.

What happened to Adidas

Adidas, which has performed well in social media marketing, experienced a serious social media crisis in October 2022. In early October, rapper Kanye West, who had worked with Adidas for many years and created the Yeezy brand, posted comments about anti-Semitism on Twitter. This negative information is rapidly spreading on social media platforms. On October 6th, Adidas began reviewing its relationship with Ye. Twenty days later, on October 25th, Adidas ended its cooperation with him.

Unsuccessful social media crisis management

Adidas’ handling of this crisis is too slow! However, in the end, Adidas expressed opposition to Ye’s comments and expressed that his comments violated the company’s values of diversity and inclusivity, mutual respect, and fairness by ending cooperation with Kanye West. Adidas took twenty days to make this decision, which was too long. During this period, on October 16th, Kanye West boldly said on the Drink Champs podcast, “I can say anti-Semitic things and Adidas can’t drop me. Now what? Now what?” This once again incited the remarks. But Adidas still hasn’t responded. Before the release of the termination notice by Adidas, over 136 million people had read negative story articles, which greatly damaged the brand reputation and image of Adidas.

Adidas itself thinks that this incident will also have a short-term negative impact on the company’s net income in 2022, reaching up to $246 million.

Whose fault is it? Can it be avoided?

The emergence of this social media crisis is not the fault of Adidas itself, but rather the independent comments made by the collaborating singers on social media. However, Adidas should also have a certain monitoring mechanism for Kanye West’s speech and behavior after establishing a cooperative relationship.

At the same time, Adidas did not take prompt and proactive measures to respond and handle it, so it is also to blame. Although Adidas cannot control the comments made by collaborating artists, brands can avoid social media crises by establishing cooperation agreements with partners to clarify the behavioral norms of artists on social media, maintaining regular communication with artists, and taking timely measures when negative comments appear.

Thoughts

It is important to learn social media crisis management strategies

Although brands can to some extent avoid negative comments, I think it is crucial for brands to quickly handle social media crises when unexpected negative news arises. This can help protect the brand image.

1. Brands should respond promptly to negative comments or concerns. Adidas is a negative example in this regard. Its twenty-day silence has caused great dissatisfaction among consumers. Ignoring a problem does not make it disappear, rather it may continue to ferment. Timely responses can indicate brand attitude and quell negative emotions among consumers.
2. Brands should take a stand and provide solutions. Public apologies and statements, as well as providing improvements and solutions, can demonstrate the brand’s attitude and determination towards the problem, making consumers feel sincere.
3. I believe that brands should maintain the authenticity and accuracy of information during the handling of events, otherwise it will once again damage consumer trust.