Foot Locker faces backlash for #AskSambaGirls Twitter campaign

Footwear retailer Foot Locker has received a surge of negative comments on Twitter after it today (27 May) ran a social media World Cup campaign featuring scantily clad women. The #AskSambaGirls campaign invited fans of the @FootLockerEU account to ask five women dressed in hot pants and crop tops questions about Rio and the football tournament itself. However, the campaign was not met well by users of the social media site who branded it ‘sexist’, with one user, @Celticsleftwing, commenting: “What's it like to be patronised and objectified by the slabbering sexist corporate wankers at Footlocker?”

.@footlockerEU Hey #asksambagirls have you ever been in a third world #sweatshop where they MAKE trainers? Where "girls" are children? (RT)

— John MacL (@Celticsleftwing) May 27, 2014

The Drum contacted Foot Locker who released the following statement: “Foot Locker’s latest campaign, The Spirit of Brazil, is intended as a tongue-in-cheek way of celebrating the Brazilian lifestyle, offering people a fun way to get to know more about Brazil ahead of this year’s summer of sport and we hope the public gets involved with the campaign in the light-hearted spirit in which it was conceived.”

What's the next big issue to tackle in Football? Since you've single-handedly dealt with sexism and racism #AskSambaGirls #everydaysexism

— Nick Taylor (@najttaylor) May 27, 2014

While the Internet is talking #YesAllWomen, Foot Locker is promoting #AskSambaGirls. Really, Foot Locker?

— Hristina Hristova (@_hristina) May 27, 2014

#AskSambaGirls is topping #YesAllWomen on twitter - poetically illustrating the need for the latter.

— Samia Shoaib (@TheWhackyPaki) May 27, 2014