By T. Jayani, JadeTimes News
Bella Hadid's recent Adidas campaign has been withdrawn after facing backlash and being labeled "sick" and a "grave error." The American supermodel was featured in the campaign for a reissued shoe from the 1972 Munich Olympics, an event marked by the tragic killing of 11 Israeli athletes and a German police officer by Palestinian terrorists from Black September.
Hadid, whose father is Palestinian, has been an outspoken critic of Israel and has frequently voiced her views on the Israel Hamas conflict on social media. Recently, she and her sister Gigi Hadid donated $1 million to Palestinian relief efforts.
Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Hadid's involvement in the campaign, and the American Jewish Committee urged Adidas to "address this egregious error" on X. They argued that selecting an anti Israel model to promote a product linked to the Munich Olympics was either a significant oversight or deliberately provocative.
Unveiled on Monday, the SL 72 campaign reintroduced the "classic" trainer originally designed for Adidas athletes at the Munich Olympics. Ads featuring Hadid holding flowers while wearing the trainers appeared across Adidas platforms and on a Times Square billboard.
Sacha Roytman, CEO of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, criticized the campaign, stating, "To have her launch a shoe commemorating an Olympics when so much Jewish blood was shed is just sick." Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti Defamation League, called Adidas's decision a "serious misjudgment that dishonors the victims."
In response, Adidas has removed the adverts featuring Hadid and issued a statement to NBC News acknowledging the unintended connections to historical tragedies and apologizing for any distress caused. They announced they would be revising the rest of the campaign.
