Adidas apologized Thursday for featuring Bella Hadid, a vocal critic of Israel, in an ad for a shoe campaign for retro sneakers themed on the 1972 Olympics, the tragic year when terrorists killed 11 Israeli athletes in Munich's Olympic Village.
“We acknowledge that while it was entirely unintentional, we have made an association with a tragic historical event and apologize for any upset or distress caused. As a result, we are adjusting the remainder of the campaign,” the company said in a statement on social media.
“Adidas' choice of a vociferously anti-Israel model to recall the dark Olympics in 1972, when 12 Israelis were murdered and taken hostage by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September, is either a gross oversight or deliberate incitement. Neither is acceptable. We call on Adidas to right this egregious error,” the American Jewish Committee said in a statement released ahead of the sportswear company's official apology.
Hadid, who is of Palestinian descent and whose father, real estate developer Mohamed Hadid, is Palestinian, has been an outspoken critic of the Israel Defense Forces' actions in Gaza, and weeks after Hamas' deadly attacks on Israel, she joined other celebrities, including Andrew Garfield and Dua Lipa, in signing an open letter to President Biden calling for a ceasefire.
Hadid, her sister Gigi and their father have been criticised for sharing anti-Semitic messages and false information about the Israel-Gaza conflict on social media.
Also in October, she posted on Instagram that she received “hundreds of death threats a day” for her support of Palestine, adding, “I condemn terrorist attacks against any civilian population. Waging terrorism does not and should not serve any interest to the Palestinian liberation movement.” This post, along with several others, appear to have been deleted in the meantime.
The Originals SL 72 running shoe campaign launched on Monday and features “a range of partners celebrating our lightweight running shoes,” including French soccer player Jules Koundé, rapper and songwriter A$AP Nast, French-Swiss musician Melissa Vonn and model Sabrina Lan, according to Adidas spokesman Stephan Paasche.
Below are some of the other tweets calling out Adidas and Hadid for their ill-conceived campaign:
