Brazil repudiates Adidas’ sexually suggestive T-shirts

Brazilian Tourism Institute (Embratur) was angered by two sexually suggestive Adidas t-shirt models sold ahead of the FIFA World Cup. In one of them, a woman in bikini appears next to the word play, “Looking to score”.

The tourism board has issued a note repudiating the reference linking Brazil’s image to sex tourism and ordered the sporting goods maker to recall the two models.

Embratur chair Flávio Dino explained that campaigns advertising Brazil as a tourist destination abroad aim to show the country’s cultural diversity, tourist places, landmark heritage buildings, natural landscapes, warm people, as well as its modern character – no sexual references included. “Sexual exploitation is an unacceptable crime,” he said.

The Chief of the Women’s Policies Secretariat housed under the Presidency, Eleonora Menicucci, said that a sporting multinational like Adidas selling T-shirts with images and words that associate Brazil with sex tourism is something unacceptable. She called it offensive to the country and to Brazilian women: “It’s disrespectful and obnoxious to our country because it promotes an image that we have been struggling so hard to bury once and for all.”

At the government’s strong reaction and consumer criticism on social networks, Adidas announced that it will recall the T-shirts stating that it “cares about its customers’ and partners’ opinion.” It claimed that the T-shirts were part of a limited edition collection for sale in the United States only.

Translated by Mayra Borges