An event for sportswear brand Puma has been accused of for glamorising adolescent drug dealing in the capital.

Invitees to the brand’s House of Hustle event, held in Soho on 5 April, were sent Puma shoe boxes containing fake £50 notes, “burner” phones (a cheap, disposable handset often used in drug transactions) and a business card instructing them to “turn on the trapline” (the phone), Dazed reports. “Trapping” is the dealing and selling of drugs.

Once the phone was turned on, invitees received a message: “Yo G what u sayin today? Pass tru the House of Hustle.”

In Soho, the House of Hustle was designed to resemble a “trap house” (a premises for the buying, selling and production of drugs) with graffiti on the walls, dirty mattresses on the floor, and blacked-out windows. Barbers, tattooists and jewellers offered their services, while DJs and drill acts including Loski performed.

Amber Gilbert Coutts, a London-based social worker who works with vulnerable families, posted an open letter to Puma and event sponsor JD Sports to her Instagram account, criticising the brands for glamorising “adolescent drug dealing”, which, she wrote, “so often results in violence, exacerbated deprivation and community pain”.

Puma initially refused to comment, but have now put out a statement. “In our invitations to the event, we used the terms ‘trap’ and “trapping” with the intention of the colloquial interpretation of ‘hard work’ and ‘hustle’ in a number of fields. Unfortunately, these words can in some contexts be associated with the illegal drug trade. We want to make clear that Puma in no way endorses or intends to glamourise drug culture. We never intended associations with drug usage, drug culture or drug dealing in any way and we regret any misunderstandings in this respect. We apologise for any upset or offence caused in the usage of this language.”

The Guardian has contacted JD Sports, brand consultants Visionarism and Loski for comment. Creative agency Urban Nerds declined to comment.

Gilbert Coutts commented on the inappropriate nature of such an event during a period of fatal violent crime in the capital: “We are not even a quarter way through the year and in London alone there has been 50 fatal violent crimes.” Police cuts have been linked to the rise in serious violent crime in London. Six people were stabbed in the capital on 5 April, the night of the Puma event.



Gilbert Coutts also remarked on what she said was a heavy security presence at the event: “This ode to ‘the trap’ in an attempt to attract the young ‘road’ crowd was not missed by your security team who was – disproportionately – in full force on the night.”

The musician Kindness (AKA Adam Bainbridge) commented on Gilbert Coutts’ post: “This is insane. @puma – not only how to lose the good will & Trust of the people that buy your products, but how to get yourself boycotted too.” Bainbridge cited what had happened when a spokesperson for trainer company New Balance said that it was looking forward to working with Donald Trump, then president-elect. Some customers posted videos in which they set fire to the company’s shoes.

A Puma press release sent after the event described House of Hustle as “designed to specifically celebrate examples of creative entrepreneurial pathways that are being forged from within the often testing social and cultural environments that are a reality for an increasing number of young urban dwellers”.