Shackle Sneakers from Adidas: dead on arrival

I was sent an email from my sister regarding the shackle sneaker debacle by Adidas: my first impression was, here we go again.

It seems -- with perfect timing -- each new season we are presented with the most inflammatory and offensive advertising gimmick from corporations trying to tap inside the Urban market.

Can y'all please hire some folks with color in your Ivory Towers.

Nivea's insensitive ad  -- which they apologized for -- regarding re-civilize yourself seems to not have taught corporate execs a lesson. On the flip side, sometimes the Jesse Jacksons and Rev Als pick unnecessary battles by being overly sensitive, i.e. the much ado over nada regarding the Mary J Blige Burger King commercial singing about crispy fried chicken wraps.  


But slave like shackle sneakers, dayum, Adidas that is a no-brainer. On this point, I even agree with the media hungry Jesse Jackson:

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. Removing the chains from our ankles and placing them on our shoes is no progress

For Adidas to promote the athleticism and contributions of a variety of African-American sports legends -- especially Olympic heroes Wilma Rudolph and Jesse Owens and boxing great Muhammad Ali -- and then allow such a degrading symbol of African-American history to pass through its corporate channels and move toward actual production and advertisement, is insensitive and corporately irresponsible.

These slave shoes are odious and we as a people should be called to resent and resist them. If put into production and placed on the market, protests and pickets signs will follow. Adidas cannot make a profit at the expense of commercialized human degradation. source

And Jackson went on to say:

“I am stunned at the insensitivity,” Jackson said. “It was a gross insult. We were prepared to engage in a boycott in 50 markets. We contacted Adidas yesterday and contacted [National Basketball Association Commissioner] David Stern, who, in turn, within a few minutes called Adidas and had it cancelled. They cancelled it because they got a call from David Stern and the threat of a real boycott,” Jackson proudly declared." source

On this note: wow the NBA commish is rolling with juice like that -- for real.

Amos I mean Cedric

Maybe we can get the commish to call TV Land and have this ish to the left cancelled because it has buffoonery written all over itself.

Excuse my digression, back to the story at hand, the most offensive part to this shackle sneakers lunacy: Adidas was going to charge $350 per pair. GTFOHWTBS.