At the beginning of the week, the global shoe retailer Adidas made the controversial announcement that it would be taking advantage of the German government’s legislative initiative to allow stores to defer rent payments for April. It didn’t take long for the highly profitable company to realize it had stuck its foot in its mouth. By Thursday, the company’s crisis management team was pumping out apology press releases and promising to pay its rent for April. Adidas’ top management admitted they had “made a mistake” and lost the confidence of its customers. It’s being reported, however, that the company will be seeking as much as €1bn in aid from the German government to help it deal with fallout from the pandemic.
