"Beyond Disrespectful"- Fans react as Sha'Carri Richardson's Whoop campaign draws similarity with Shelly Ann-Fraser's Richard Mile endorsement

American sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson recently collaborated with ‘Whoop’, a wearable tech company whose primary product is a fitness tracker. The world champion, with her unique aura and her long nails, started the campaign in a green top and bottom, which resembled Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce's dress worn during a Richard Mile campaign.

The Jamaican legend highlighted the luxury watch company’s campaign in August last year, and among a series of different colored dresses, one was a green top and bottom. However, Sha'Carri Richardson wore the same dress during the whole video campaign.

But the similarities between the two ad campaigns weren't just in the green dresses. Several other shots were similar including the two sprinters lining up on the track and just expressing themselves in front of the camera, dancing in joy.

When the American sprinter’s collaboration with Whoop went viral on the internet, netizens online noted the similarities between the two campaigns. Several fans alleged that Fraser-Pryce's ‘image and likeness’ had been stolen. One user wrote:

"For Shelly Ann to have her likeness and image stolen from her is beyond disrespectful to me. If this was a white woman, black ppl would be outraged. This concept, music, scenery and the look is all the same for promo for watch campaign."

"They probably thought no one would notice or care. The damage to reputation could be significant," another noted.

"This is disgraceful. I honestly believe it’s intentional to try and bait black twitter so that it boosts engagement. I’m tired kmt," a third fan added.

While the majority of criticism was directed at the brand, Sha'Carri Richardson was spared the blame by fans. A fan wrote:

"Be mad at the creative directors, I don’t think Sha’Carri purposely did this"

"It’s not up to her, blame the team behind the scenes," another user expressed.

"Sha’Carri might not have had a say on the creative direction of the video but it’s not a coincidence that Whoop (a fitness watch) company’s video has the same aesthetic and music along with the same color fit and hair as Shelly-Ann’s Richard Mille (a luxury watch) company video," a fan noted.

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Sha'Carri Richardson vs Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Day 3 - World Athletics Championships Budapest 2023

Shelly-Ann Fraser is undoubtedly one of the greatest sprinters of all time. In a career spanning more than 15 years, the 37-year-old has racked up 8 Olympic medals and 17 world championship medals. But American icon Sha'Carri Richardson is definitely on track to match the Jamaican’s exploits.

Only 24 years old, Richardson has won 2 gold medals at the World Championships. Had the unfortunate cannabis testing saga not unfolded in her career in 2021, she would surely have had an Olympic medal as well by now.

While Richardson is still way behind Fraser-Pryce, the PBs of two of the fastest women sprinters are very close. The American has run 10.65s in the 100m with respect to the 3x Olympic champion’s 10.60s. In the 200m, Richardson has clocked a personal best timing of 21.92s while the Jamaican has a PB of 21.79s. But when they went head to head in 2023, Richardson came out on top.

During the World Championships 2023 in Budapest, Sha'Carri Richardson and Fraser-Pryce competed against each other in the 100m category. The American won gold in 10.65s while the Jamaican finished 3rd in 10.77s.