Peng Shuai: will sponsor Adidas speak out on sexual assault allegation and ensuing controversy? The dilemma sportswear brands face as China’s Winter Olympics nears

Peng has been sponsored by Adidas for almost 15 years, but the brand and Peng’s other major sponsors remain quiet over the Chinese tennis player’s situation

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will be a test to see whether brands that rely on the China market risk criticising the Chinese government before the event

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Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai was rarely seen on court without her Adidas cap. Photo: AP

Published: 4:15pm, 2 Dec 2021Updated: 8:34pm, 2 Dec 2021

As Beijing’s censorship of tennis player Peng Shuai’s explosive sexual assault allegation against a former senior Chinese official reverberated around the world, the sport’s household names, from Roger Federer and Serena Williams to Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka, began speaking out.

On December 1, the Women’s Tennis Association announced it was suspending its tournaments in China. There has been silence, however, from major corporate sponsors, such as Adidas, which have worked with Peng for years, and the tennis and fashion communities are increasingly asking what role sportswear companies should play in such situations.

Peng has worked with Adidas for almost 15 years and was rarely seen on the court without the brand’s distinctive logo on her cap. She has appeared in numerous iterations of the brand’s Nothing is Impossible adverts, and in a 2008 ad campaign spoke about the surgery she had to correct a congenital heart issue as a child.

It would appear to make sense for the sportswear company to try to ascertain what has happened to its long-standing partner. If it is, it is doing so in private.

Peng and former Chinese vice-premier Zhang Gaoli, who, according to the WTA, is the former senior Chinese official at the centre of the tennis player’s sexual assault allegation. Neither Zhang nor the Chinese government have commented on the allegation. Photo: AFP

“I think Adidas will be working behind the scenes to find out what’s going on and the company will have good contacts at the IOC [International Olympic Committee], which has spoken to her,” says Simon Rines, owner of IMR Sponsorship, an agency that advises sports sponsors.