Moral Distinctions Force Reebok To Withdraw Offensive Ad

Reebok, in the face of strong criticism, pulled off their controversial ad campaign. The ad was suspended by the sports line company, when they received a string of complaints and demands that the ad be removed immediately.

The company was accused of promoting philandering, through their ad, titled “Cheat on Your Girlfriend, not on your workout,” The highly questionable tag line has been objected to by all, especially social media activists.

Spokesman Dan Sarro, said on Tuesday. “We regret that some offensive Reebok materials were recently printed. The signs were removed as soon as we were made aware of them,” “I can assure you that Reebok does not condone this message or cheating in any way. We apologize for the offensive nature of these materials, and are disappointed that they appeared at all.”

CheaterVille.com, urged a boycott of Reebok and said that the ad was disrespectful and added, “This form of advertising shows a dishonest and disrespectful attitude towards women and your company should be ashamed to have even placed this ad in various places thinking it would be perceived in any other way.”

James McGibney, on behalf of CheaterVille said in a statement to Radar Online, “CheaterVille will not stand by and let you keep this ad running without a fight. We will start informing our millions of followers to boycott Reebok until the ad is removed and a public apology is given.”

The company seems to have misjudged the ads damaging potential. A spokesman said that it was not meant to part of their global campaign and hence was released at a gym partner of Reebok, in Germany but YouTube and social media took it into a wider realm across the world.

Given that Reebok had been fined $25 million last year for a campaign for its “toning shoes,” that the FTC said was “false advertising,” this advertisement too may land them in hot waters.

It’s amazing how such giant companies, pay ad agencies thousands of dollars, and then run an ad that instead of promoting them and their products, only alienates them further in the eyes of the people. How such a global conglomerate could make such an error, defies reason and stresses on the importance of having clean, reliable, consistent advertisements that do not compromise, or seem to compromise on accepted human values.