2024-07-19 19:49:12
Equipment manufacturer Adidas on Friday removed model Bella Hadid, whose father is Palestinian, from a controversial campaign for the reissue of emblematic sneakers from the 1972 Munich Olympics, bloodied by an anti-Israel attack.
The German equipment manufacturer, steeped in sneaker fashion, is relaunching this retro-looking shoe called the SL72 this summer, a model worn by athletes, especially during the Munich Games.
This competition was marked by a subsequent attack of evaluation, carried out against the Israeli delegation by a security official, during which eleven Israeli athletes and a German policeman were killed.
“Bad Historical Events”
The American model Bella Hadid, who is 27 years old, is among the faces chosen by Adidas to present a promotional campaign, made in the middle of July, for the restored sneakers.
The daughter of a former refugee, born in Nazareth and became a real estate mogul in the United States, Bella Hadid, whose mother is of Dutch origin, has regularly shown her support for the Palestinians since Israel bombed the strip in Gaza. carried out on October 7 by the Islamist group Hamas.
“We know that links have been established with tragic historical events, even if these are completely unconscious, and we apologize for any irritation or pain” that this may have caused, writes the brand with three lines in the press sent to AFP. . Model Bella Hadid was removed from the campaign with “immediate effect,” an Adidas spokesperson said.
Wave of criticism
The excitement was especially intense among Israeli officials. “Guess who’s the face of the campaign? Bella Hadid, a model of Palestinian origin who used to spread anti-Semitism and calls for violence against Israelis and Jews, made an appearance on Thursday to the Israeli embassy in Berlin on the X network.
“How can Adidas now say that the memory of this event is completely unconscious ? The 1972 attack is written into the common memory of Germans and Israelis,” Israeli Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor told Welt TV on Friday, after Adidas’ apology.
The campaign caused a wave of criticism on social networks: “Adidas is dead to me… I will not buy anything from companies that have things in common with anti-Semites…” one user wrote on X.
Other Internet users, on the contrary, opposed Adidas’ decision to end the collaboration with the model on ‘among them. Another called for a “boycott” of Adidas.
The brand will continue to promote its vintage model with other faces: Jules Koundé, French footballer, A$AP Nast, American singer and songwriter, Melissa Bon, Swiss-Ethiopian singer, and Sabrina Lan, Chinese model and influence of he lives in berlin.
A new tribute to the brand
Adidas has already been forced to end its profitable partnership with the controversial American Kanye West in October 2022, who has made anti-Semitic remarks.
A divorce which is costly in terms of loss of income, to the point of pushing accounts for 2023 into the red.
The German team must accept this new disappointment linked to Bella Hadid at a time when it came out of last year’s departure with important progressive actions.
It published a press release in Tuesday’s report of better than expected results in the second quarter, brought precisely by the collection of small colorful sneakers with in particular the Samba and Gazelle models, while the rival America’s Nike is struggling to grow.
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