A religious statesman has called for an apology after singer Pharrell Williams and sportswear giant Adidas named a shoe collection after a Hindu festival.
Pharrell and Adidas pre-released their unisex apparel and footwear line called Hu Holi on March 2, which was inspired by the spiritual Hindu festival known as the "festival of colours".
Holi is a Hindu festival that marks the arrival of Spring. The festival, traditionally taking place in India, runs for two days and is known for the colourful powder thrown at each other.
Pharrell was filmed being painted in colour as he celebrated the Holi festival in India for the first time in March.
But both Adidas, a European-based sportswear company, and Pharrell have been criticised since the inspiration for the new line was made public, accused of trying to use a religious concept for a "fashion statement".
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, who is the President of the Universal Society of Hinduism, joined in the criticism calling for Mr Willaims and the Adidas CEO to apologise and rename the shoe collection.
"Hindus feel that Holi footwear collaboratively launched by American singer Pharrell Williams and multinational sportswear corporation Adidas is trivialization of traditions, concepts, symbols, beliefs of Hinduism," Zed said.
"Inappropriate usage of Hinduism concepts or symbols or imagery for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it might be painful to many devotees. Hindus were for free artistic expression and speech as much as anybody else if not more. But faith was something sacred and attempts at trivializing it hurt many followers," he added.
Social media users were also quick to accuse the collaboration of being an example of "cultural appropriation".
"A European company getting an American musician to market a line of apparel/footwear inspired by an Indian festival. Don’t really care, but yuppp, technically, this is cultural appropriation," Ishita Trivedi wrote on Twitter.
Adidas told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement: "Adidas Originals and Pharrell Williams created Hu as a global platform to inspire positive change."
"Hu was founded upon the principles of unity, equality, humanity and colour with an intention to explore humanity and celebrate diversity around the world. Together, Adidas Originals and Pharrell Williams use this platform to help tell stories from around the globe."
Earlier in March, Rajan Zed urged Amazon to remove stockings showing an image of Hindu god Lord Ganesha from their website, according to India West.
