Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted told CNBC on Thursday he is deeply sorry about a marketing email praising customers because they "survived" this year's Boston Marathon.
Customers received an email from Adidas last month with a subject line that read: "Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!"
The company shortly thereafter got backlash on social media, with customers reminding Adidas about the real survivors the 2013 Boston Marathon terror attack, which killed three people and injured several hundred others.
Adidas apologized for the email, calling the subject line "insensitive."
"That is a consequence of living in a real-time environment," Rorsted said on "Squawk on the Street." "Of course, we hope the thing like this will not happen. It did happen. We apologized. And we hope also that the consumer will forgive us for that mistake, which we are thoroughly sorry about."
Rorsted's comment came after the sports apparel maker reported better-than-expected earnings on Thursday, sending the company's shares higher.
The company attributed the results in part to growth in online trading and a boost to its North American and Chinese performance.
—The Associated Press contributed to this report.