Betting on personalized designs is something that more and more sneaker brands are doing to attract the attention of consumers, so Adidas decided to launch a new model of sports shoes inspired by the well-known Puebla talavera.
The announcement moved thousands of fans, however, the tennis named “Forum” ended up disappointing some since the work on the design and its presentation to the world seemed something very disconnected from the history of the talavera.
The Adidas case
In social networks, various users pointed out that although the design looked very good, the truth is that there was no mention of any talavera artist in its presentation, nor was a focus given to the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala, entities that those who have the cultural designation of origin.
Instead, Adidas decided to refer to the model as a representative proposal of Mexico City, which is why some pointed out that there was a mismanagement of the campaign and misinformation about the origin of this popular art.
All this was put into question after the influencer Luisito Comunica, who is originally from Puebla, presented the model from his instagram stories, where he celebrated the design and indicated that his friend, the influencer Juanpa Zurita, was part of the launch marketing team.
The following message was written on the note that accompanied the shoes:
“Mexico City is an iconic city.
“From its traffic and noise to its art and gastronomy, it is these contrasts that make it the perfect chaos. Full of traditions that walk with it, such as the Talavera, where each mosaic is unique and represents a story.
Based on this concept, we present the first adidas footwear inspired by Mexico, for all those who are ready to take the next step ”, reads the note formed by Adidas México and Juanpa Zurita.
Some users highlighted the lack of visibility of the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala, as well as the true tradition and history of the talavera, as well as a criticism of the ambassador.
Adidas wants to pay tribute to the indigenous “Mexican” culture with tennis inspired by the Puebla talavera.
And of course, nobody closer to the image of indigenous craftsman than Juanpa Zurita, right? pic.twitter.com/TQmQUkqc7A
– J Alpha (@AlfaSatanica) September 10, 2021
Wrong or right?
Adidas is not the first foreign brand to create a design based either on a celebration or on Mexican culture, for example, last year, Nike surprised with three models inspired by this Mexican tradition. The most expensive of these, the Air Jordan 1 Mid, had a price of 2,700 pesos.
The expectation around the product grew as the brand launched some advances in their design accompanied by an interesting promotional campaign.
“The Día de Muertos collection takes inspiration from the Mexican tradition that celebrates life and death, while honoring family and loved ones. The collection is inspired by the traditional offering that is placed each year during this celebration, through a modern approach based on art and culture ”, highlighted Nike when presenting this special collection.
The difference is that the management of the company may not have been correct, leaving behind the history behind the origin of the talavera, especially in this type of special editions that play with elements adapting a local context and traditions, which tie and They connect directly with the identity of the consumer.
In this sense, according to the findings of the study The Truth about Global Brands signed by McCann Worldgroup reveals that 68 percent of the population considers that in recent years they have lost part of the cultural identity of their country, so the 92 percent of them affirm that it is of the utmost importance that brands respect the local culture of the markets in which they are present.
Along the same lines, it is not surprising that on average 57 percent of consumers worldwide trust local brands more than global ones, with which 67 percent indicate that they prefer to acquire the former over the latter in the as many opportunities as possible.
With this in mind we have that the consumer demands brands with a much more local DNA even when their origin is not national, an aspect that, although it poses many challenges, also provides interesting opportunities, however, it is not enough to try, but this is also due land in the best way to avoid accusations like the one made to Adidas today.
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