Sebut Wayang Kulit Asli Malaysia, Adidas Singapura Minta Maaf

The well-known German sportswear brand, Adidas is becoming a hot topic of public discussion. The reason is, they have just launched the latest shoes with unique Indonesian designs, namely leather puppets.

However, the Adidas Singapore account says something different. They said that the shoe in collaboration with Jaemy Choong was launched to celebrate Malaysia’s cultural heritage.

puppet

“The design speaks of homage to Wayang Kulit, an important part of Malaysia’s identity and cultural heritage by combining Wayang Kulit elements with a modern color palette, in an ‘old-meets-new’ approach to the UltraBOOST DNA,” Adidas wrote at the time.

Knowing this, suddenly Indonesian netizens flocked to the account because they did not accept wayang kulit as an art from Malaysia. Many urged Adidas to immediately clarify and confirm that wayang kulit originated from Indonesia.

Adidas Singapore finally admitted its mistake. They immediately gave a complete clarification via Instagram Stories and apologized for the mistakes made.

“Thank you for contacting us. While wayang kulit is an important part of Malaysia’s cultural heritage, we should mention its origins from Indonesia in our posts,” wrote @adidassg in Instagram Stories, Tuesday (16/11/2021).
“We sincerely apologize for any unintentional offences that may have been committed, and have now changed our post.”

The reason is, when making shoes with the shadow puppet design, Adidas and the artist aimed to develop a cultural design that depicts Malaysia and Southeast Asia. They emphasized that the shoes were indeed inspired by the culture in Southeast Asia.