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Twitter Campaign For Arsenal's New Home Kit Goes Badly Wrong

Twitter Campaign For Arsenal's New Home Kit Goes Badly Wrong

Adidas were generating people's Twitter handles on to the back of the shirts but they didn't account for the awfulness of people.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

Adidas tried to get fans involved with their launch of Arsenal's new home kit but it totally backfired on Twitter with people getting involved in the most horrendous way.

Arsenal's latest kit was launched on Monday by manufacturer Adidas. The German company decided to get fans involved on Twitter.

If fans tweeted about the kit with the hashtag #DareToCreate then the Adidas UK Twitter account would generate a tweet with the fan's handle emblazoned on the back of the new shirt.

Unfortunately the campaign was overtaken by people with offensive Twitter handles, including '@GasAllJewss', '@MadelineMcCann' and '@InnocentHitler'

The campaign failed to block out the offensive handles automatically and it took a while for the tweets to be deleted on Monday evening, with several of them getting many retweets and likes before they were removed.

In a statement to SPORTbible, an Arsenal spokesperson said, ""We totally condemn the use of language of this nature, which has no place in our game or society."

"We work hard as a club to encourage diversity and inclusion through our Arsenal for Everyone programme, launched in 2008 as a celebration of the diversity of the Arsenal family. Through a number of initiatives undertaken in the community, inside Emirates Stadium and throughout the club, Arsenal strives to ensure that everyone associated with the club feels an equal sense of belonging."

A spokesman for Adidas told us, "As part of our partnership launch with Arsenal, we have been made aware of the abuse of a Twitter personalisation mechanic created to allow excited fans to get their name on the back of the new jersey. Due to a small minority creating offensive versions of this, we have immediately turned off the functionality. We are in contact with Twitter, the innovation provider, to establish the cause and ensure they continue to monitor and action violating content as a matter of urgency"

The initial launch of the kit, which is the first of their new five year deal with Adidas, was a brilliant video about being a Londoner:

It is not the first time that sporting marketing campaigns on social media have backfired because tweets have been automated off fans tweeting.

The National Lottery account tweeted messages of support for Team GB ahead of the Rio Olympics in 2016, with members of the team holding placards with the messages, but there was no filtering of the messages.

In 2017 Walkers had a similar social media faux pas with placards with Gary Lineker holding up pictures of tweeters in a scene with doctor Harold Shipman and Jimmy Saville amongst those tweeted by the company.

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: Football News, Adidas, Premier League, Arsenal, Twitter, Football twitter