PublishedJuly 19, 2024, 5:29 pm
Allegations of anti-SemitismControversy: Adidas withdraws ad featuring Bella Hadid and apologizes
The firm is relaunching retro sneakers inspired by the 1972 Olympics, when 11 Israelis were killed. And the model is of Palestinian origin.
Bella Hadid photo at the last Cannes Film Festival.
AFP
Adidas announced Friday that it was pulling Palestinian model Bella Hadid from a controversial ad campaign to reissue a pair of sneakers that were symbolic of the 1972 Munich Olympics when an anti-Israel attack took place.
The German gear manufacturer, currently surfing the sneaker culture, is relaunching this retro-looking shoe called the SL72 this summer, a replica of a model worn by athletes during the Munich Games.
Right in the middle of the competition, eleven Israeli athletes and coaches – and a German policeman – were murdered by the Palestinian commander “Black September”.
Adidas chose to embody in its promotional campaign, the model Bella Hadid, who has Palestinian roots, who has often participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and, since October 7, has repeatedly criticized the Israeli bombing of Gaza.
Strong reaction from the Berlin embassy
“We know that links have been made with tragic historical events – even if these are completely unintentional – and we apologize for any humor or pain” that may have caused, writes the brand with the three stripes in a press release sent to AFP.
Model Bella Hadid is being removed from the campaign with “immediate effect,” an Adidas spokeswoman said.
The excitement was particularly noticeable among Israeli officials.
“Guess who’s the face of the campaign? Bella Hadid, a model of Palestinian origin who is used to spreading anti-Semitism and calling for violence against Israelis and Jews,” the Israeli Embassy in Berlin responded strongly on Thursday on the X network.
“How can Adidas now claim that the memory of this event was “completely involuntary”? The 1972 attack was etched in the common memory of Germans and Israelis,” Israeli Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor told Welt TV on Friday, following the Adidas apology.
“Adidas is dead to me”
The campaign sparked a wave of criticism on social networks: “Adidas is dead to me… I won’t buy anything from companies that have things like anti-Semites…” one user wrote on X.
The brand will continue to promote its vintage model with other faces: Jules Koundé, a French footballer, A$AP Nast, an American rapper and songwriter, Melissa Bon, a Swiss-Ethiopian musician, and Sabrina Lan, a Chinese model and influencer she lives in Berlin.
Adidas was already forced to abruptly end its lucrative collaboration with controversial American rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, in October 2022, who had made anti-Semitic remarks.
Excerpt from the now withdrawn campaign.
X
(afp)