Reebok Goes Political, Rips Trump -- And Outlaws Complimenting Women

Twitterers chew them up and spit them out....

July 17, 2017

For some reason, Reebok has decided to alienate half of its potential buyers by going after President Donald Trump.

Reebok, which makes tennis shoes, is apparently unaware that conservatives and Republicans -- you know, those horrible people who live in flyover country and elected this terrible president -- often wear tennis shoes.

Getting on its pretentious high horse, Reebok (meaning whichever young punk millennial hipster was running the social media outreach) on Friday fired out this important post to its 733,000 followers on Twitter:

The reason the tennis shoe built the little graphic lecturing men on when they can compliment a woman is because Trump last week flew to Paris and was seen telling Brigitte Macron, wife of the French president, "you're in such good shape. Beautiful."

At the risk of offending Reebok, we'll say that Ms. Macron is in such good shape and she isbeautiful. And she's 64, exactly 25 years older than her 39-year-old husband, Emmanuel Macron. She's doing the hard work to stay in shape (and you kids out there, it does get harder and harder as you get older!). And we'll note that Ms. Macron said "thank you" to Trump, who gave compliment standing next to Mr. Macron.

Alas, it was all wrong, according to Reebok, and only a shoe company can correct this misogyny and chauvinistic pigheadness.

Reebok is, of course, right on a few of the examples in its pointy graphic. You shouldn't say that to a complete stranger, like at the gym or in line to buy coffee. But saying "You're in such good shape" to your future mother in law? No problem. Saying it to the wife of your longtime friend who you've known for years? All good. And saying it to a woman you're just meeting -- who's with her husband and may opr may not be a first lady but who is someone who has clearly put a lot of effort into staying healthy -- really quite OK.

Look, here's the thing: Working out is hard. Doing it every day, day after day, takes commitment. And while most of those who do that are trying to stay healthy, it's also not so bad that they look better, staying slim, etc. Saying to a woman -- or a man -- that their hard work is paying off isn't a social crime. "You're in such good shape" is a very nice compliment -- even from a stranger at first meeting (but again, not appropriate in a dark alley at night with a stranger).

Twitterers had some fun with Reebok for its offputting tweet. EvenTrump-haters couldn't get on board this one.