Doesn't seem like a few Brit. Barrage is hardly used to describe a couple of comments.

My guess is Adidas knew exactly what it was doing. I would say that there was debate amongst those who make the decisions on what does or does not sell on whether these shoes were going to sell, so in order to avoid a major flop they previewed them on Facebook to see what the reaction was. When the reaction was negative, they spun it this way so that they look bullied and blameless well revving up some hype for the other shoes that will be released by this designer.

Pretty see through in my opinion.