After two weeks, Adidas has finally severed ties with Ye - a decision with which it’s hard to disagree. However, two weeks? Was that too long to come to the decision? And was this handled well by Adidas on social, where people expect an immediate response?

Everyone has weighed in on this, including Mark Ritson, in his customarily contrarian fashion. The viewpoint that Adidas has been led by ‘profit’ is probably true; their share prices have plummeted and this seemed to be the way to bounce back following the controversy. The reason it took two weeks was they were deeply entangled with Ye; the Yeezy partnership was responsible for roughly 4-8% of the Adidas group’s revenue. 

But this debate around whether this was a decision based on profit or purpose is a bit of a waste of time - ditching Ye was the only responsible thing to do. There’s been a real-world impact, with this image going viral, showing that the words have morphed beyond the echo chamber of social. That feels like a line, and given that Ye has since been banned from multiple social platforms, it would be irresponsible for the partnership to continue, no matter what it was worth.

So did Adidas handle this well? At the time of writing, there’s been no direct response to the crisis from them on their socials. There’s been no overarching message of support for the Jewish community - there’s been no acknowledgement of their responsibility at all. This feels like a dropped ball. It feels like a brand who’s afraid of being accountable for their actions. Of course, if you take two weeks to respond to one of your partners spewing hate speech, you’re going to get backlash - but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t post anything. It’s not about being afraid of what people say, it’s about behaving responsibly.

So, what should brands be doing in the light of crisis? This was a blow-out of huge, multi-million dollar proportions, and is every brand manager’s nightmare. But what’s the best approach should something of this kind happen?

It comes down to honesty, empathy and speed.

First, be honest about what’s going on. Brands can no longer keep their head in the sand, and the longer you wait to respond the more ire you’re likely to gather. Silence can speak louder than words (Adidas’ lack of response became a conversation subject of its own). Having this response is all about having a PR and Crisis Management plan in place, and making sure the social team is fully across this and confident in steering best practice.

Next, have empathy for those affected. If it’s a crisis like Covid or an invasion like Ukraine, there can be a brand role where you can meaningfully support. Think Brewdog bottling hand sanitiser, or telecoms companies removing charges for phone calls in Ukraine. For something like Ye’s crisis, Adidas could have been more proactive in showing their support of the Jewish community through actions. Their feeds are full of anti-racist sentiment, but they need to act to show they actually stand by this. Acts not words is something to live by here.

And this can’t be a slow process; there needs to be speed. Before Adidas acted, Ye was dropped by everyone (talent agency, Balenciaga, his lawyer, Instagram and Twitter…). We know this is likely because their partnership was so ingrained, but people on social media simply don’t care about this.

This speed also means swiftly pausing your media and assessing how this looks in light of what’s going on; everything you say will now be looked on in a different light, and often not in a good way. Vetting content that’s due to go out and assessing any campaigns is essential, as they’re likely to be impacted (and less successful during a period of negativity) or interpreted differently. “Why aren’t you talking about this, not what actually matters?” is one way that your audience may interpret any activity not about the crisis.

So - honesty in addressing the brand’s accountability, empathy with those affected, and deploying both at speed. While every crisis is unique, brands need to assess these three areas to be fully prepared to deal with anything that may rear its head.

Adidas haven’t come out of this well. But there really was no winning here. There’s no amount of honesty, empathy or speed that Adidas could have displayed that would have had them smelling of roses. The only way would have been to part ways with Ye much, much earlier. But their lack of response was loud.

Two weeks is a long, long time on social.