Raahil's blog: Deepika Padukone continues selling Nike, even after Adidas deal

In October last year, Campaign India broke the news of Deepika Padukone becoming the face of adidas, as the brand wanted to democratise and diversify sports for women. 

 

Back then it was seen as a major scoop for Adidas, as Padukone was previously seen in a Nike film.

Adidas would have thought that this agreement would have seen the end of the actor selling Nike products.

 

But no, that hasn’t happened.

 

Padukone, who runs a closet sale to raise funds for her NGO, LiveLoughLaugh, has 11 Nike items listed on her website, and there’s only one of Adidas, the brand she currently endorses.

 

 

This could prove that Padukone’s closet sale is genuine, as she’s clearing out her Nike apparel stock to make sure she’s not spotted wearing Adidas’ competitor.

 

But, this raises a few questions – will a fan of the actor look at the advertisements Padukone appears in for Adidas and get influenced to purchase those products? Or will they go through her closet sale and pick from the plethora of Nike products listed there? 

 

Since the site also lists the products which have been sold out, it’ll be interesting to see what happens to the Nike products after the purchase has been made. If they continue to be listed like the other products, we’re certain that it’ll lead to fans looking at similar Nike products.

 

At a time when there’s a call for brands to be authentic, this is where Nike wins, unintentionally. For Padukone to be listing Nike products on the website, even though she’s a brand ambassador for Adidas, fans are going to be certain that she trusts the American brand.

 

While we reached out to Adidas and Padukone for a comment on the same, we’re yet to hear from them. If and when the brand or Padukone offers a comment, we’ll update this story.

 

But for now, it’s advantage Nike.

 

(The author is managing editor, Campaign India.)