That awkward moment when you spell a country’s name wrong in a massive ad campaign. Yes, that did happen, and it happened to Adidas.
The sports brand has had to apologise to the Colombian Football Federation for spelling Colombia as ‘Columbia’. Wrong.
The ads were launched recently and featured the Colombian national team feature midfielder James Rodriguez in the team’s new get-up.
Adidas offered a statement on Tuesday awkwardly trying to apologise for the gaffe.
“We value our partnership with the Colombian Football Federation and we apologise for our mistake,” the statement read.
“We removed these graphics and are quickly installing new versions today.”
According to the Associated Press, Colombia has been sponsored by Adidas since 2011, but that hasn’t stopped some fans expressing their outrage.
Dear @adidas it is Colombia not Columbia… Thank you pic.twitter.com/6XfACSWk9e
— astrid rivera (@astriddrivera) June 7, 2016
@astriddrivera @adidas in friggin credible!!! You guys dress the team and you can’t the spelling right??? WTF? Nojoda!!
— Aaron Ojeda (@Currambero4u) June 8, 2016
Because I am tired and this is unacceptable @adidasfootball @adidas @adidasCO #CopaAmerica #Colombia pic.twitter.com/qlLKlztujm
— Steph (@steph_uhny95) June 7, 2016
#Fail! Since Adidas sponsors ColOmbia, you’d think they might know how to spell it. pic.twitter.com/th7OHppOfV
— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) June 8, 2016
For what it’s worth, it’s not the first time a giant athletic apparel company has royally cocked up the spelling of their respective teams. In 2010, Nike spelled Kentucky wrong on John Wall’s jersey, while in 2013 it effed up yet again, spelling Seattle as ‘Seatlle’ on a Seahawks sweatshirt.
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