Clean Clothes says it was behind Adidas’ hoax

AMSTERDAM – The Clean Clothes Campaign and activists The Yes Men have said they were behind the hoax Adidas press release this week. The goal, they say, was to highlight “Adidas’ hypocrisy when it comes to garment workers’ rights.”

The hoax began with a surprise announcement from ‘Adidas’, detailing their new plan to prioritise and protect workers’ rights. The announcement outlined plans to appoint a Cambodian former garment worker and union leader, ‘Vay Ya Nak Phoan’ (‘textile’ in Khmer), to be Co-CEO, alongside Bjørn Gulden, who took charge of the company on 1 January.

With ‘Phoan’ supposedly overseeing ‘Adidas’’ ethical responsibilities, her first step in office was to sign the Pay Your Workers agreement, a real life proposal developed by trade unions and labour rights organisations on wages, severance and the freedom to organise.

‘Phoan’ also committed the brand to actively resolving current cases of rights’ violations in adidas’ supply chain, including working with suppliers to: reinstate all eight fired union leaders at Trax Apparel in Cambodia, with 100 per cent back pay; and to respond to the demands of the Pou Chen union in Myanmar, including reinstating workers and union members who were fired for striking, significantly raising wages, and ensuring protections for workers’ right to freedom of association.

‘Phoan’ pledged adidas would pay US$2.5m in legally-owed severance to 1020 workers at the Hulu Garments factory in Cambodia, and the swift payment of an estimated US$11.7m in wage theft owed to Cambodian garment workers at eight supplier factories. 

The alleged plan was to replace adidas’ motto ‘Own the Game’ with one that proactively addresses injustice in the garment industry: ‘Own the Reality.’ A press release sent from a fake adidas domain on Monday morning included links to an apparent image of Gulden and ‘Phoan’ signing the Pay Your Workers agreement, committing to address the systemic problems of wage and severance theft, and union busting. 

Clean Clothes’ claims The Yes Men hoax highlights the hypocrisy of adidas, “a brand that portrays itself as invested in women’s empowerment, while earning billions in revenue from the ongoing exploitation of women garment workers in production countries that lack adequate social protection systems. The stunt illustrates the power that adidas has over conditions in their supply chain.”

Ineke Zeldenrust, international coordinator for Clean Clothes Campaign said: “Adidas are masters of spin, but the truth is they refuse to put their money where their mouth is. Tens of thousands of adidas garment workers are owed millions, and the sheer scale of wage theft means this issue can’t be solved on a case-by-case basis. The Yes Men have presented an alternative future where leadership prioritises protecting rights, one where adidas takes ethical conduct seriously enough to invest in it financially. We call on Bjorn Gulden to take the urgent steps needed and sign the Pay Your Workers agreement. Words are not enough, workers need real action now, they’ve already waited too long.”

We did ask Clean Clothes about legal issues involved with a campaign like this. They told us: “In terms of the logistics of the fake press releases and hoax website, these weren’t actually sent from adidas’ real site but from a cloned version of their site so no computer hacking involved.”

Kudos to Clean Clothes and co – this was a very creative way to highlight a pertinent industry issue.