Indonesian Netizens Attack Adidas, Because They Mistakenly Said The Shadow Puppets Came From Malaysia

Adidas apologizes via Instagram Stories for calling Wayang Kulit from Malaysia (Screenshot of Instagram @adidassg)

JAKARTA – Recently, Indonesian netizens enlivened the Adidas Singapore Instagram account @adidassg with criticizing comments. The reason is that the account states that wayang kulit comes from a neighboring country, namely Malaysia.

In a video post on the @adidassg account that contains promotional content for the latest Adidas shoes, the Ultraboost City Pack. The upload contains six video clips because the latest Adidas shoes are said to be inspired by 6 Southeast Asian countries, namely Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines.

The problem arose when one of the videos showed a leather puppet show along with a collection of white shoes with wayang images. The @adidassg account captioned "Celebrate Malaysia's cultural heritage through a JAEMYC perspective in our next #UltraBoost DNA City Pack."

“This design pays homage to Wayang Kulit, a significant part of Malaysia's identity and cultural heritage by fusing Wayang Kulit elements with a modern color palette, in an 'old-to-meet-baru' approach in UltraBoost DNA,” wrote @adidassg in the post's caption. the.

See this post on Instagram

A post shared by adidas Singapore (@adidassg)

As a result of the wrong caption, Indonesian netizens ganged up on the account. Currently the post has 30.5k comments. The comments of Indonesian netizens were protesting and they also regretted that a company like Adidas wrote wrong information regarding the origin of the shadow puppets.

"Wayang kulit is not from Malaysia, but from Indonesia," commented one netizen. "Obviously what is used in the advertisement is wayang kulit from Indonesia," protested another netizen. "It's a shame, Adidas' classmates are not aware of the wayang originating from Indonesia. Even UNESCO has acknowledged it," wrote an Instagram user from Indonesia.

After reaping protests, finally the post caption was edited and the @adidassg account also issued an apology. Adidas Singapore has removed the word Malaysia and replaced it with Indonesia as the owner of the Wayang Kulit. Adidas apologized for the error via Instagram Stories.

"We sincerely apologize for any unintentional offense that may have been taken and have now changed our post," wrote @adidassg. "For the avoidance of doubt, neither the brand nor the artist intends to claim cultural art from Indonesia," continued @adidassg.

UNESCO has recognized Wayang Kulit which is part of Indonesian culture. Officially, the agency under the auspices of the United Nations recognized Indonesian Puppets in 2003.