Adidas marketing strategy to promote LGBTQ rights did ‘more harm than good,’ branding expert says

close

Video

Adidas LGBTQ swimsuit ad did ‘more harm than good,’ Karen Tiber Leland says

Branding and marketing expert, Karen Tiber Leland, said the Adidas LGBTQ swimsuit ad campaign will hurt the company brand after facing fierce backlash.

Adidas' controversial LGBTQ+ advocacy campaign did "more harm than good" for the brand's image and failed at their of advocating for the pride community, a branding expert told Fox News.

Adidas released the "Let Love Be Your Legacy" collection and campaign in collaboration with South African designer Rich Mnisi earlier in May, with the goal of supporting the LGBTQ+ community. The company said the marketing strategy was an attempt to "encourage allyship and freedom of expression without bias, in all spaces of sport and culture." 

But one of the models on the Adidas website that was wearing a woman’s bathing suit ignited backlash. The male-presenting model was seen wearing the women-branded swimsuit piece with a visible bulge in the crotch area.

This ad ended up hurting the company, Sterling Consulting and Marketing Group President Karen Tiber Leland told Fox News Digital.

"I think the way this was done hurt Adidas brand," Leland said. "It became about the way they did it, not about what they were trying to support."

RILEY GAINES, NANCY MACE AND OTHERS RIP ADIDAS OVER WOMEN'S BATHING SUIT MODEL

ADIDAS LGBTQ SWIMSUIT AD DID ‘MORE HARM THAN GOOD': BRAND EXPERT

Video

WATCH MORE FOX NEWS DIGITAL ORIGINALS HERE

"I don't think it was so much their support of [the LGBTQ] community as it was that the controversy was over how they executed it and how they dealt with it," Leland said. 

Adidas needs to "consider the other constituencies that they have … and how those groups feel about the way that they went about expressing that support," Leland added.

Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer and outspoken defender of women’s sports, tweeted that the Adidas campaign was the latest corporate attempt at "erasing women." And Republican Rep. Nancy Mace criticized Adidas in a tweet on Wednesday that read, "I'm old enough to remember when women actually modeled women's bathing suits, not men."

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED FACES BACKLASH FOR NAMING TRANSGENDER FEMALE POP STAR KIM PETRAS AS SWIMSUIT COVER MODEL

But senior vice president Jay Brown of the Human Rights Campaign felt the opposite. Brown previously told USA Today that opposition to the campaign was "just the latest example of an ideology obsessed with erasing LGBTQ+ people."

Gaines criticizes Adidas for having a biological male model a women's swimsuit in a LGBTQ promotional campaign.  (Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

"I think Adidas just threw a bunch of different things together and voila, there's your ad," Leland said. "But I don't know that they really took the time to think, what is the essence of the message we're trying to communicate here and how is what we're putting out reflecting that message or not?"

The branding expert said whether companies take a stand on social issues or not, corporations have to accept they can't please everyone. But at the same time, corporations are failing to think of their entire client base and how to implant smart strategies to address those social issues, Leland said. 

Leland, a brand expert, says Adidas hurt their brand with their latest LGBTQ+ advocacy campaign. She says companies need to take more time to strategize smart execution plans when taking stands on social issues.  (Nelson Ching/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

CAN COMPANIES COME BACK FROM WOKE PUBLICITY STUNT FLOPS? ‘WOKE INC’ AUTHOR SAYS YES

"You can't make everyone happy," Leland said. "That's why you have to do what's authentic. But you do have to think through intelligent execution."

"And I find a lot of companies do not think through intelligent strategy or intelligent execution when it comes to these issues," she added. 

Leland supports companies taking stances on social issues if it works for their brand. But she encourages companies to strategize better and remain authentic when taking these types of actions.  (Fox News Digital)

Adidas is not the first company to be embroiled in controversy following LGBTQ+ campaigns.

Bud Light faced backlash after the brand sent transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney a special pack of beer with her face on the can as part of an ad for the company's March Madness contest and to celebrate a year since she transitioned. Bud Light's parent company, Anheuser-Busch, lost approximately $5 billion in value after news of the partnership led to nationwide calls to boycott the beer. 

FORMER BUD LIGHT DRINKERS SAY ‘TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE’ AFTER BRAND TRIES TO MAKE AMENDS WITH PRO-AMERICA AD

Bud Light faced backlash more than a month after its polarizing pact with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney prompted outrage. (Instagram)

And after the release of their LGBTQ+ campaign, Adidas shares fell 3% in the first 24 hours. Adidas did not immediately return a request for comment.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"I think it did more harm than good in terms of the brand," Leland told Fox News. "I think it would be a mistake for them not to do a deep dive on what didn't work here and how they could prevent that in the future while still retaining their commitment to those rights."

To watch Leland's full interview, click here. 

Teny Sahakian contributed to this report.