Adidas UK's automated Arsenal shirt campaign hijacked with racist tweets

Adidas UK launched a Twitter campaign allowing users to have their handles printed on virtual Arsenal shirts, which were then automatically tweeted by the @AdidasUK account. The campaign was hijacked by users with offensive handles, resulting in the company posting racist and antisemitic slogans. Adidas disabled the feature and apologised, while Arsenal condemned the language. The tweets were widely shared before being removed.

Date it happened

2019-07-01

Organisation involved

Adidas UK

This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.