The New Adidas Ad Highlights the Importance of Women’s Safety

Adidas’ “Ridiculous Run” Ad Campaign Photo: Adidas via: Adweek

The sportswear brand Adidas just launched their new “Ridiculous Run” video ad campaign that gives awareness to the struggles women have to face when running, especially at night. The ad highlights the things that women have to do in order to stay safe when running, including running with a buddy or sharing locations with loved ones. The ad includes several women running in the street at night amongst several obstacles such as horses and cars.

The female runners are also seen doing other things such as sharing their location and carrying a whistle with them. The ad also was a response to Samsung’s “Night Owl” campaign ad that featured a woman running alone at night with no problems. This ad proved to be quite controversial because it did not highlight the authentic experiences that real women face while running alone at night and the Advertising Standards Authority received several complaints and angry comments from consumers regarding the ad.

 Adidas’ “Ridiculous Run” Ad Campaign Photo: Adidas via: Adidas

Last year in February, the brand pledged their commitment to their female customers. The ad is also the brand's way of educating men and boys with a new education program in partnership with the non-profit White Ribbon that helps women and girls against violence and Amanda Sussman, an author and human rights advocate. The brand’s goal is to advocate for women and this is a continuation of their long running Women We Run initiative. 

 Adidas’ “Ridiculous Run” Ad Campaign Photo: Adidas via: Fox Business 

The ad included a study done by Adidas at the beginning of March that surveyed 9,000 female runners worldwide in nine countries about their real life experiences running and the safety measures they have taken while out running. 90% of women who took the survey feel unsafe running. 51% of women and 28% of men are afraid of being physically attacked. 38% of the women have been harassed while running while over 50% have gotten unwanted attention, received sexist comments, have been honked at, and/or followed. Women were 53% 38% of the men more likely to experience anxiety while out. 40% of the women and 30% of men have expressed more feelings of vulnerability while running. 

 Adidas’ “Ridiculous Run” Ad Campaign Photo: Adidas via: Adidas 

It seems like the brand is already practicing what they preach. They will add more safety features on their Adidas running app such as a live location feature. The brand also has a safety pledge on the app that says “I pledge to never commit, condone, or remain silent about violence against women'' with over 120,000 signatures. They have launched a safety allyship playbook for coaches and captains to take that educates and provides tools for harassment and safety of female athletes.

 Adidas’ “Ridiculous Run” Ad Campaign Photo: Adidas via: Sustain Health Magazine

The global communication director of Adidas, Sina Neubrandt said, “We believe sport should be equal, and safety is essential to creating that reality. We know from our communities, and our research, that safety is the most discussed topic when it comes to women and running—and unfortunately women continue to be made responsible for protecting themselves,” she said. “Addressing this issue is a marathon, not a sprint, and our campaign will not solve this overnight. But if we can encourage more men to understand their role as allies, we can create progress and, hopefully, change.”

 Adidas’ “Ridiculous Run” Ad Campaign Photo: Adidas via: Adidas

This ad highlights the brand's goal to show womens real life experiences and make them feel safer while they are running. It is great that Adidas is actually listening to the experiences of their female customers and is taking many measures to protect them. They are using their resources to educate and partnering with nonprofits that actively work to help women. Hopefully, within the next couple of years, the education they are providing will create more allies and put in place more safety measures for women.