Adidas Supports The LGBT Community With Same-Sex Ad

The sportswear brand Adidas advocates for the LGBT community and reminds us all what Valentine’s Day is really about…

Adidas caused controversy this weekend after posting a same-sex ad on social media to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

The image: two women’s legs leaning in towards each other as though about to kiss, was accompanied by the simple caption ‘the love you take is equal to the love you make.’

While most people commended the heart-warming message, a small minority of trolls took to twitter and Instagram to criticise the 'controversial' photo choice.

Followers broke into a heated debate of over 125,000 comments, with some homophobic haters questioning the choice to feature a same-sex couple. A few even went on to say that February 14th should be for straight couples only. How they came to that conclusion we have no idea.

Thankfully, Adidas put a stop to the homophobic torrent and reminded us all of the true meaning of Valentine’s Day, replying with the simple statement ‘No, this day is for LOVE. Happy Valentine’s Day’, punctuating the comment with a kiss emoji. Well said Adidas, well said.

This is not the first time that the sportswear brand has spoken up for the LGBT community. Tom Daley was named the face of Adidas NEO in 2014 shortly after he came out as gay, and in the same year the words ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ were banned from Adidas’ customisable trainers.

Just last week in fact, Adidas amended its sponsorship deal contract to include a new clause protecting athletes from being dropped for their sexual orientation. Now if an athlete comes out as LGBT, the sponsorship contract cannot be altered or terminated.

The clause states: ‘Adidas acknowledges and adheres to the principles of diversity, as this is a central part of the Adidas group philosophy, therefore Adidas warrants that this agreement will neither be terminated nor modified in case the athlete comes out to the public as a member of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.’

It’s pretty shocking that this clause has only just been introduced, but that doesn’t take away from our approval of Adidas’ recent advocacy. Well done.