Adidas Stop Selling Brazil World Cup T-Shirts Over Claims They ‘Encourage Sexual Tourism’

Chris Wright

26th, February 2014

6 Comments

By Chris Wright

adidas-lookin-to-score

Adidas have heeded the call to pull two World Cup 2014 t-shirts from their online catalogue after being bombarded with complaints from the Brazilian tourist board that the designs were too “sexualised” and also “encourage sexual tourism”.

The first design (both were intended to be limited edition runs on sale in the US only) sees a bikini-clad Brazilian woman stood alongside the slogan “Lookin’ to score” – we’re fairly certain we won’t have to explain the innuendo there.

The second design is a green women’s t-shirt that reads “I ♥ Brazil”, with the heart stylised to look like a curvaceous backside in a thong…

adidas-lookin-to-score1

Anyway, head of the Brazilian Tourism Board, Flavio Dino, has openly admonished Adidas for flogging the two designs, telling Brazilian news agency O Globo:

“We don’t accept that the World Cup be used for illegal practices, like so-called sexual tourism. We ask that Adidas put a stop to the sale of these products.

“Brazil has harsh laws to deal with sexual abuse and the police will act on these cases in the national territory.”

Adidas have since complied, confirming that the two shirts have been taken off sale, releasing the following short statement: “[We] always pays close attention to the opinion of its consumers and partners. Therefore, it is announcing that these products will not be sold anymore.”

(Image: Adidas)