Adidas “Running Errands in Town” T-shirt pen holder, already disassembled; the text is customizable (“Running Errands in Town” or “Wear adi, Run errands”).

Origin of the meme (went viral at the end of May 2026)

1. Root cause: machine translation gone wrong Adidas released an English tagline for a casual jacket: pair it with jeans for errands around town. The original meaning was: pair it with jeans for everyday city outings—running errands, grocery shopping, and handling small tasks. However, the machine translated it rigidly as: pair it with jeans, running errands in town, resulting in the full product description: “Wear this jacket with a T-shirt for workouts, or pair it with jeans to run errands in town.” This juxtaposition of high-end brand copy with down-to-earth colloquial language created a humorous contrast, prompting netizens to share screenshots on platforms like Xiaohongshu and Douyin, quickly going viral across the internet.

2. Timeline of its spread

• May 30: A netizen uncovered the mistranslation screenshot, sparking widespread attention.

• The meme went viral online, inspiring countless secondary creations, including emoji packs and jokes.

• Adidas capitalized on the trend by coining the punny phrase “Wear adi, Run errands”, then launched a limited-edition custom T-shirt featuring the slogan “Running Errands in Town” (priced at 448 yuan). As a result, offline store orders surged fourfold.