Selena Gomez was targeted by sweatshop protesters as she helped kick off New York Fashion Week on Wednesday.
She was sitting in the front row of the show for Adidas's NEO line, which she endorses, when a woman approached her with a flyer and "pleaded" with her to "be an ambassador for children, not sweatshops," reports Yahoo's omg!
According to omg!, "the protester proceeded to walk along the front row, handing out copies to as many other event goers as she could...the woman made it nearly all around the runway before being caught and escorted out by security, at which point a fellow protester popped out of the audience armed with more flyers...and was quickly grabbed by security."
The flyers were created by a group called United Students Against Sweatshops, and they feature a photo of children holding up a handwritten sign that reads: "Selena, tell Adidas to pay our parents' severance so we can go to school."
A message beneath the photo explains: "Because adidas refuses to pay $1.8 million in legally-owed severance to 2,800 of its workers, many of the workers' children cannot afford to attend school and sometimes go without food."
Omg! spoke with one member of the protest group, Claire Lewis, who said that "of the companies that produced apparel in a now-shuttered Indonesian factory, Adidas is the only one who has refused to pay the mandated severance."
Gomez signed a three-year contract with the Adidas NEO label in November 2012, according to Adidas's website, coming on board as the brand's "new global style icon and guest designer." She reportedly helped choose the looks featured on the runway for Wednesday's show.
An Adidas representative did not have any comment about the protests as of Wednesday.
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