Adidas is one of many brands trying to muscle in on the attention the Copa America Centenario has brought to soccer in the USA. This is a good idea on its face, the only problem is they are not doing a very good job of it.
There is a persistent rumor that Adidas is an acronym for "All day I dream about sports." There is also a less-appropriate version that substututes "sports" for . . . well you get the idea. It doesn't matter anyway, because we alone know what Adidas actually stands for: All Day I Derp About Spelling.
Look what they did with "Colombia" and "Columbia."
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For those still confused: "Colombia" is a country in South America with a very good national soccer team featuring the likes of James Rodriguez, Carlos Bacca and Juan Cuadrado. "Columbia" is a city in South Carolina and an Ivy League University in New York City.
Adidas later apologized for the mix-up, telling Sky Sports: "We value our partnership with the Colombian Football Federation and apologize for our mistake. We removed these graphics and are quickly installing new versions."
That, frankly, is not good enough from Adidas, who clearly have no respect for the people of Colombia. To me, the apology read like this: "we are sorry the Colombian consumers will not be spending as much money buying our stuff, and have fixed the issue in hopes that you will buy more of it."
Do better with your apologies, y'all. And get a copy editor while you're at it.
This adds to the growing list of countries some part of the Copa America Centenario has managed to insult: playing Chile's national anthem instead of Uruguay's, cutting Chile's anthem off in the middle and following it with Pitbull and now this.
It's almost like the Copa America Centenario is a fraudulent marketing scheme instead of a soccer tournament. Oh wait.
Contact The18 Staff Writer Sam Klomhaus at Klomhaus@The18.com or follow him on Twitter @SamKlomhaus
