Adidas spent part of Tuesday recovering from a public relations flub after it sent a marketing email to its customers with the subject line: “Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!”
The wording inadvertently invoked the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, which left three dead and more than 260 injured. At least two bombing survivors, Patrick Downes and Marc Fucarile, participated in this year’s race.
Adidas responded to the backlash with an emailed statement that read, “We’re incredibly sorry. Clearly, there was no thought given to the insensitive e-mail subject line we sent Tuesday.”
The statement continued, “The Boston Marathon is one of the most inspirational sporting events in the world. Every year we’re reminded of the hope and resiliency of the running community at this event.”
Screenshots of the e-mail’s subject line quickly made their way onto social media. “Adidas is going to have to fire whoever was in charge of writing this e-mail,” one person wrote on Twitter. “Adidas, you may want to rethink the subject line,” wrote Mike Denison.
Photo courtesy Adidas
