Adidas has launched an investigation after Arsenal's kit launch campaign was hijacked to promote racist and anti-Semitic content.
The sportswear giant's Twitter campaign '#DareToCreate' allowed fans to write personalised names on the back of the new Gunners strip, which were then published on social media.
The idea was that supporters could broadcast their own names on the shirt - as if they had just signed for Arsenal - and then click through to buy the personalised strip.
But the campaign was predictably hijacked, and because offensive words or phrases were not filtered out, shirts containing racist and anti-Semitic content were published.
Names including "Innocent Hitler" went viral, while other Arsenal shirts referenced the Hillsborough Disaster and Madeleine McCann.
Adidas told The Huffington Post UK: "As part of our partnership launch with Arsenal we have been made aware of the abuse of a Twitter personalisation mechanic created to allow excited fans to get their name on the back of the new jersey.
"Due to a small minority creating offensive versions of this we have immediately turned off the functionality and the Twitter team will be investigating."
This is not the first time a 'Twitter personalisation mechanic' has been hijacked.
Walkers Crisps launched a campaign in 2017 that allowed Twitter users to insert a photo of themselves being held up by Gary Lineker. Images including that of Josef Fritzl were uploaded and broadcast online.
