Reebok issues statement on latest snafu
“Unfortunately, an error was made at one of our printing facilities,” said a Reebok PR rep to MMAFighting. “We are currently working to rectify the issue.”
Reebok’s initial foray into the MMA space was widely panned. The opening media event felt to many like nothing some much as outtakes from Zoolander 2: Giblert. For many, the designs evoke three letters, but they are not M-M-A or U-F-C. They are U-N-O.
ZUFFA is an extraordinary company, that has raised mixed martial arts from a sport where one UFC weigh in was conducted in a bathroom, to one where weigh ins can get up to 8,000 spectators, and are broadcast on FOX Sports 1. In this context, the Reebok UFC collaboration is utterly baffling.
While some fighters have expressed positive remarks, the general reaction in the sport has ranged from puzzlement to derision. There is a simple test for the brand – does anyone in your gym wear Reebok MMA apparel? How about Venum? How about Roots of Fight?
That tells all.
The gaffe of the month for October was a tee that left Northern Ireland off a map of Ireland.
The latest gaffe was an Anderson Aldo shirt.
Would you wear a shirt with that design? Was the image taken with a cell phone? And of course, who is Anderson Aldo?
Anderson Silva is the greatest fighter in UFC history. Jose Aldo is arguably the best pound for pound fighter, and has the highest profile fight of the year this month. There has to something missing in the corporate culture at Reebok.
Would Nike put out a Shaquille Jordan tee? No. Executives at Nike know that Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan are different people. That does not seem to be the case with Reebok. It does not feel like anyone involved there gets MMA.
The company released a statement.
“Unfortunately, an error was made at one of our printing facilities,” said a PR rep to MMAFighting. “We are currently working to rectify the issue.”
Snafu stands for Situation Normal: All F@$%ed Up. This is Reebok right now. They are a global apparel company, teeming with tremendously talented individuals in management and creativity. But something is really wrong.
When you offer the public a tee shirt for 35 dollars, with a terrible design, and production values equivalent that of a selfie, confusing the name of two of the greatest figures in sport, and you did way worse last month, something is wrong at a fundamental level. That tee is an insult to their customers and an insult to the sport. They can yell at a printer, and that is not going to “rectify the issue” at this point.