Adidas is going through the dust a day after the Manchester United shirt launch. The clothing sponsor of the English superpower has identified Millie Turner as her former United team-mate, Amy Turner, in its ‘never forget where you came from’ launch campaign. The United defender didn’t know what she was seeing and immediately expressed her displeasure via Twitter, forcing adidas to correct the embarrassing gaffe. The brand has since apologized and announced that it will hold a campaign among its fans.
Millie Turner, 25, was part of the launch of the club’s new home kit on Thursday, with the iconic red shirt and white pants made public in several slick promotional spots. However, she was surprised to see that she was identified as her former teammate, whose name adorned the top right of her photo. “Since I’ve been playing at Manchester United for three years and being part of adidas for two years, you should expect them to spell my name right,” Millie Turner wrote on Twitter with some surprise.
Considering I’ve been at Manchester United for 3 years and an adidas athlete for 2… You’d like to think adidas would get my name right.???????? pic.twitter.com/S3wp18FEf5
— Millie Turner (@MillieTurner_) July 15, 2021
Her 25-year-old former teammate Amy Turner also played for United for the past three years, before making the move to Orlando Pride last month. While the mistake of misidentifying one of its own athletes was quite embarrassing, the irony of the campaign’s slogan (“never forget where you came from”) took it to another level. Adidas soon corrected the error on its website after the United defender pointed it out to them. The sports brand also apologized via Twitter.
Millie, we messed up and we’re gutted. You’re part of the adidas family and we want to make amends. Let’s get some new shirts out to your biggest fans. Let us know who and we’ll deliver.
— adidas UK (@adidasUK) July 15, 2021
“Millie, we screwed up and we are devastated,” reads the tweet from adidas. “You’re part of the adidas family and we want to make it right. Let’s hand out some new shirts to your biggest fans. Let us know who and we’ll deliver it.” The adidas blunder has received little support from former Millie Turner teammates. “Millie is an excellent player, an excellent person and they still don’t know how to spell her name correctly. That should only happen to female players,” former United player Jess Sigsworth wrote on Twitter.
A screenshot of the miss, with Amy Turner’s name at the top right with a photo of Millie Turner.
Natasha Fenton, star player at Blackburn Rovers, also razed adidas on the social media platform. “Mistakes like this make it seem like big brands are going with the flow to support and promote female athletes. It comes across as doing it because society says so. Shame on you, adidas,” Fenton said.