Adidas’s Arsenal football kit promotion sabotaged by antisemitic trolls
search

The latest Jewish News

Read this week’s digital edition

Click Here

Adidas’s Arsenal football kit promotion sabotaged by antisemitic trolls

Manufacturer 'immediately turned off the functionality' of the online campaign after accounts including 'Gas All Jews' and 'Innocent Hitler' tweeted out

Screenshots show Adidas UK tweeting out offensive antisemitic accounts (Screenshots from Twitter)
Screenshots show Adidas UK tweeting out offensive antisemitic accounts (Screenshots from Twitter)

Arsenal has condemned antisemitic trolls who hijacked the football club’s new kit launch.

A social media initiative by Adidas, inviting people to personalise the kit with Twitter handles, backfired spectacularly when terms like @GasAllJewws appeared on the back of the north London team’s famous red and white shirts.

The manufacturer suspended its ‘Dare To Create’ scheme, in which people’s Twitter handles appeared on the new strips, alongside the message “This is home. Welcome to the squad”.

Handles, including ‘GasAllJewss’ and ‘Innocent Hitler’ appeared, leading to Adidas UK sending out tweets welcoming them.

Other offensive messages called for the death of black people, referenced the Hillsborough tragedy and Madeline McCann, the young child who went missing in 2007.

Adidas UK told the Guardian: “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 and the Twitter team will be investigating.”

An Arsenal spokesperson told Jewish News: “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.”

Support your Jewish community. Support your Jewish News

Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.

For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.

Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.

You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.

100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...

Engaging

Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.

Celebrating

There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.

Pioneering

In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.

Campaigning

Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.

Easy access

In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.

Voice of our community to wider society

The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.

We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.

read more: