Adidas apologized on Thursday for running an ad featuring vocal Israeli critic Bella Hadid in a shoe campaign for retro sneakers referencing the 1972 Olympics, the tragic year when terrorists killed 11 Israeli athletes in the Munich Olympic Village.
In a statement shared to social media, the company wrote, “We are conscious that connections have been made to tragic historical events – though these are completely unintentional – and we apologize for any upset or distress caused. As a result we are revising the remainder of the campaign.“
“At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, 12 Israelis were murdered and taken hostage by Palestinian terrorist group Black September. For Adidas to pick a vocal anti-Israel model to recall this dark Olympics is either a massive oversight or intentionally inflammatory. Neither is acceptable. We call on Adidas to address this egregious error,” the American Jewish Committee said in a statement issued before the sports wear company’s public apology.
Hadid is of Palestinian descent — he father, real estate developer Mohamed Hadid is Palestinian — and has been an outspoken critic of the conduct of the Israeli Defense Force in Gaza. A few weeks after the horrific Hamas attack on Israelis, she, along with celebs including Andrew Garfield and Dua Lipa, signed an open letter to President Biden asking for a ceasefire.
Hadid, as well as her sister Gigi and their father, have been criticized for allegedly sharing antisemitic messages and false information about the Israeli-Gaza conflict on social media.
Also in October, she wrote on Instagram that she had received “hundreds of death threats a day” for her support of Palestine and added, “I condemn the terrorist attacks on any civilians. Inflicting terror does not and should not do any good for the Free Palestine movement.” The post and several others appear to have been taken down in the meantime.
The ”Originals’ SL 72” running shoe campaign was launched on Monday. It also features, per Adidas spokesman Stefan Pursche, “a broad range of partners to celebrate our lightweight running shoe,” including French soccer player Jules Koundé, rapper and songwriter A$AP Nast, Franco-Swiss musician Melissa Bon and model Sabrina Lan.
Here are some of the other tweets calling out Adidas and Hadid for the poorly thought-out campaign.
