Adidas Turns Machine Translation Blunder into Viral Marketing Success in China

Key facts

• Adidas faced severe backlash in China in 2021 for participating in the Better Cotton Initiative boycott of Xinjiang cotton.
• In October 2025, Adidas launched a 'Chinese New Year Jacket' blending tang suit elements with sportswear, which became a global hit.
• In late May 2026, a machine translation error on Adidas's Chinese website went viral for its unintentional humor.
• The phrase 'pair it with jeans for errands around town' was translated as 'pair it with jeans to handle business in the city' (搭配牛仔裤，在城里办事).
• Adidas responded by selling T-shirts with the meme phrase and launching a marketing campaign featuring the possum meme and slogans like 'Wear Adidas, Handle Serious Affairs.'
• Chinese actor and Adidas ambassador Li Xian was spotted wearing a 'handling business' T-shirt.
• Nike became a top trending topic under the hashtag 'Chinese consumers are abandoning Nike faster than anyone expected' after sneakers originally 899 yuan were selling for 429 yuan.
• The article introduces the concept of 'Chinamaxxing' to describe Adidas's successful localization strategy.