German sports apparel maker Adidas withdrew its plans to sell a controversial sneaker featuring affixed rubber shackles after the company generated significant criticism when advertising the shoe on its Facebook page.
[…]
“Wow obviously there was no one of color in the room when the marketing/product team ok’d this,” said a commenter identifying herself as MsRodwell on nicekicks.com.

What? Black men don’t want to wear something that smacks of slavery? They’d rather financially shackle themselves by spending hundreds on shoes endorsed by athletes.



  1. Jetfire says:

    Forget the Slavery angle just look a current events on why this was a stupid idea. How many time has someone been killed over their “hot” sneakers. What a about the mob scenes lately when the new hot shoe came out.

  2. Sheila says:

    Its just a publicity trick

    Sheila
    http://www.survivingsurvivalism.com

    • ugly, constipated, and mean says:

      Publicity? Yeah? Like learnshittywatchrepair.com?

      Then go on every blog you can find and spam your website address with your inane content-less comments?

  3. slaves in europe says:

    Funny, but i didn’t think slavery when i saw it, i thought prisoner shackles.

    • mharry860 says:

      Currently we’re all slaves to the Government’s of the world and the Bankster’s, so what’s the problem.

  4. deowll says:

    I thought chain gang but then I’m not black. Maybe I’m wrong but I thought the biggest nuts over designer sports wear were blacks at least in the states not that some whites aren’t pretty crazy over fashion shoes.

    I’d rather have a pair of Converse shoes from before Jordan because they actually seem to be more functional and to me comfortable but then if I’d got paid what M. Jordon got paid I’d have worn clogs or whatever.

  5. Dallas says:

    I think it’s clever and edgy. Needs to be bundled with a whip and a mask

  6. Sterling says:

    The idea is dumb, but so is buying expensive shoes just because some famous person is hawking them.

  7. The Bogeyman says:

    Here’s a novel thought…if you find them offensive then DON’T BUY THEM. Bunch of whiny overly sensitive pansies.

  8. bobbo, taking it as a man from both directions says:

    So… converse got bought by Nike which is owned by Oak Hill which is funded by Robert M. Bass, which is Texas Oil Money, which funds the Brookings Inst …. and I got too tired to look more.

    Billionaire, Texas, Oil? == Operating thru one shell corp after another in anonymity?

    fug em = and their shoes. “♫Goin’ barefootin!

  9. Buzz Mega says:

    I wear mine with the clamps on the other foot. Makes doing a Tim Conway’s Old Guy character easy.

  10. Buzz Mega says:

    Where’s the glove equivalent that can be used as handcuffs?

  11. Anonymous says:

    What? Black men don’t want to wear something that smacks of slavery? They’d rather financially shackle themselves by spending hundreds on shoes endorsed by athletes.

    … Or wear gold chains like Mr. T!

    FYI: Mr. “I pity the fool” T was once credited for having said that he wore all those gold chains to symbolize how his people went from wearing chains of slavery to people like him turning them into chains of gold. Clearly, something was lost on those he was directing his comments at. Cause now, we see crap like this.

    Gimmicks like this seem to fall just short of shouting out the n-word by anyone who would wear fake shackles. I don’t know who in Adidas thought this would be cool or acceptable since it really does seem insulting and degrading – which is exactly why they probably wanted to sell them.

    You absolutely can not wear these shoes like this if you’re Caucasian or even have light colored skin. Cause if you do you’re very likely to be branded as a racist. It’s the same thing when it comes to using the n-word too.

    P.S. If you want to be politically correct (“PC”) you don’t say “Black” when referring to “African Americans” – even if they’re European! (Can someone get a slap upside the head here?)

  12. Pays2Think says:

    I’m guessing that one schmuck thought this was a great idea and no one in the room had the guts or brains to say what the F.

    It’s a microcosm of our current society.

  13. orchidcup says:

    Those would have been a great pair of shoes to buy for my wife.

  14. Uncle Dave says:

    These were created by a ‘fashion designer’. His website includes clothes he designed for Miss Piggy.

    http://jeremyscott.com/

  15. soundwash says:

    my first thought was that they were classic jailhouse shackles to either mock or show that your a slave to fashion(?)

    after reading the blurb, i figured the only way you could get a “black thing” out of this was if it was staged that way for a publicity stunt.

    only moron would think this was some oddball “Ode to black slavery” or some such..

    -although, with a little tweaking, i bet the SM/BD crowd would get a great kick out of them.. (-at least they still have a sense of humor)

    -IMO, they should offer them with matching cuffs.

    -s

  16. bobbo, double speaking ever since I found out the gullible had money and Jr. Day Trader says:

    Everybody knows that people all over the globe think about the plight/status/history/future of tanned Americans in every thing they do.

    Its what makes the USA so exceptional.

  17. B. Dog says:

    They would be great for court.

  18. This would have added some class to the court ordered ankle bracelet.

  19. kmfix says:

    Black people weren’t the only ones to wear shackles…but everyone has to turn it into a race thing.

  20. robertleather says:

    What the hell were Adidas thinking?!

  21. Michael in Pittsburgh says:

    These shoes sucked anyway. Beyond the implications the shoes may suggest to some they simply suck.

    Award for the worst Adidas product ever.

  22. Carlitos says:

    I’d wear those. Not even kidding.

  23. Carrie says:

    A.D.I.D.A.S. = All Day I Dream About Slavery

  24. Xenochrist says:

    I actually had an idea like this a few days ago haha. No Joke.


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