Adidas AG said it will withdraw a range of T-shirts tied to this year's World Cup after Brazil's tourism board said they encourage sexual tourism. One shows a woman in a bikini along with Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf
mountain and the phrase “Lookin’ to Score” above the word “Brazil.”
The other has an “I love Brazil” heart resembling the upside-down buttocks of a woman wearing a thong bikini bottom.
“We always listen carefully to our customers and other stakeholders, so having taken on board their feedback, we have made the decision to withdraw this product line,” Adidas, an official sponsor of the World Cup, said in a statement. “It is important to stress that this was a limited edition range which was only available in the U.S.”
Brazil’s tourism ministry earlier said it would make a formal complaint through its tourism promotion agency, Embratur, because Adidas was associating “national symbols with drawings carrying sexual connotations.”
“The Ministry of Tourism repudiates any relationship between national icons and images with sex appeal,” the government department said on its website. “This attitude contradicts the official policy of promoting the country and contributes indirectly to the commission of crimes such as the sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.”
