adidas-Salomon AG is "facing embarrassing claims that
some of the soccer balls it made to commemorate the World
Cup were sewn by political prisoners at a Chinese labor
camp," according to Smith & Copetas of the WALL STREET
JOURNAL. The allegations are over whether balls were made
by an adidas sub-contractor at a political labor camp and
the dispute "leaves open the possibility that the
promotional World Cup balls worked on" by Bao Ge, a former
Chinese political prisoner -- who is suing Adidas --
"weren't genuine Adidas products, or were unauthorized by
the company. That was a possibility the company raised when
first contacted. Subsequently, both Adidas and its
suppliers suggested that the balls may have been authentic,
but made in the labor camp without Adidas's knowledge."
Smith & Copetas report that although adidas "prides itself
on its close monitoring of production, this case shows the
danger of selling your name to companies manufacturing in a
country as poorly regulated as China." adidas CEO Robert
Louis-Dreyfus: "If it turns out that even one item was made
by slave labor or in a prison camp, heads will roll, maybe
even my own" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/26).
COMING UP SHORT: In Oakland, Art Spander wrote that
adidas focused much of its World Cup advertising spending in
Europe tailored around "five of the world's best soccer
players." But the players "either haven't been picked to
play for their countries or have been sent off the field for
dirty tactics." One adidas spokesperson: "We are not
jinxed" (Art Spander, OAKLAND TRIBUNE, 6/24).
