“The heart of the adidas product line is athletic shoes, but the three-stripe logo appears on apparel and other jock accoutrements. Bankruptcy once had it on the ropes, but it made a comeback by shifting production to Asia and beefing up its marketing. The #2 maker of sporting goods worldwide, behind NIKE, it has inked deals with football and basketball athletes, as well as the New York Yankees. The firm won sponsorship rights to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Its purchase of Salomon, the French maker of ski and golf gear, was short-lived. It sold the unit to Amer Sports Corp. and bought Reebok in 2006 for some $3.8 billion.” [1]
Contents
Criticism
Workers Rights
A major report by Oxfam and trade unions released in 2004, cited big sportswear firms like Adidas, Reebok, Nike, Puma, and others of having their goods produced “by workers around the world whose rights are being regularly violated.” The report included accusations of seven day work weeks during peak production periods, 16 to 18 hour work days, sexual harassment of female workers, and forced overtime without pay.
During hearings in 2000 with the European Parliament’s Development Committee, it was reported that clothing produced for Adidas was manufactured in two Indonesian companies employing child labor, forced overtime, and sexual harassment. Charges included using children as young as fifteen, forcing them to work at least seventy hours a week, and paying them far below the International Labor Organization’s demand for a living wage. Former workers told of darker conditions. Adidas acknowledged the poor conditions, but denied talk of it intentionally ignoring its third-world workers.
The US subsidiary of Adidas was sued by Chinese dissents and former prison inmates under allegations that the inmates were forced by prison guards to produce World Cup soccer balls. The inmates have said that they were forced to produce the balls seven days a week, 15 hours a day. As part of the suit, the former inmates demanded compensation. An Adidas representative has said, “”We don’t tolerate prison labor and all agreements with our suppliers contain a provision against prison labor.”
The Asia Monitor Resource Centre and Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee released a report on Chinese factory conditions of major sportswear firms Adidas, Reebok, and Nike. The report details poor working conditions in numerous locations, and accuses factories of forced overtime, low pay, and violation of many labor laws. The report was released to the public on September 1st, 1997.
Business Ethics
Oxfam, “a confederation of 13 organizations working with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice”[2], alleged in November of 2006 that it had failed to reinstate 33 workers who had been fired after a one-day strike as it had promised. The promise came after Indonesia’s human rights commission ruled that insufficient grounds to terminate the 33 workers.
Representatives of Adidas failed to make an appearance at a 2000 ethics hearing where “European Parliament in Brussels […] heard a litany of accusations against producers of some of Europe’s most familiar branded goods.” Adidas was accused of using sweatshop labor to produce its sportswear.
Praise
Business Ethics
After a doping scandal involving the T-Mobile German cycling team, Adidas announced it was ending its sponsorship of the team. According to a spokesman of Adidas: “We have told Telekom of our decision and we are in talks to get out of the contract early.”
Brands & Subsidiaries