Adidas has apologized to anyone upset by the SL72 campaign and promotion of the company's classic 52nd anniversary sneaker of the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, in which she was involved model Bella Hadid.
The controversy was caused by the fact that Hadid is of Palestinian origin, and she promoted the campaign to mark the Olympic Games, where 11 Israeli coaches and athletes and one German policeman were killed in a terrorist attack by the Palestinian militant group Black September.
Campaign revision
"We are aware that links have been made to tragic historical events - although they are completely unintended - and apologize for any distress caused." As a result we are revising the rest of the campaign. We believe in sport as a force that unites people around the world and we will continue our efforts to champion diversity and equality in everything we do," Adidas said.
Adidas' ads for the SL72 campaign feature Hadid wearing the aforementioned sneakers while holding flowers.
After the company apologized and promised to revise the campaign, all posts featuring Hadid were deleted from Adidas' social media accounts X and Instagram.
American Jewish Committee: Inadmissible
The American Jewish Committee called on Adidas to address the "egregious mistake."
"For Adidas to choose a model with a vocal anti-Israel stance to evoke the dark Olympics is either a gross oversight or deliberately inflammatory." Neither is acceptable," the American Jewish Committee said.
Hadid is a vocal supporter of the Palestinian struggle and often uses social media to support Palestine in its conflict with Israel.
In December 2017, she was among those who opposed the decision of the then President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
In June 2024, Hadid and her sister, also supermodel Gigi Hadid, donated $XNUMX million to aid the Palestinians.
Hadid: If I had known, I wouldn't have agreed
Hadid emphasized that she would never knowingly engage in any work connected to a horrific tragedy of any kind.
"Before the announcement of the campaign, I did not know about the historical connection with the terrible events of 1972. I am shocked, upset and disappointed by the lack of sensitivity in this campaign. Had I been aware of that, I would never have participated in that campaign," Hadid wrote on her Instagram account.
She pointed out that she, her team and Adidas "should have done more research", and that she would have protested if she had known about the tragic history.
Source: USA Today, The Hollywood Reporter
