FRANKFURT.- Adidas announced on Friday the withdrawal of the model Bella Hadidwhose father is Palestinian, of a campaign to promote the reissue of iconic sneakers from the 1972 Munich Olympics, which were overshadowed by the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes.
The German sportswear giant has launched a reissue of the SL72 sneaker, a retro model that is a replica of the footwear worn by athletes during the Munich Games.
During the competition, a commando of armed men from the Palestinian organization Black September stormed the Olympic Village and killed two Israeli athletes and kidnapped nine.
After negotiations initiated by the then West Germany failed and a chaotic rescue attempt failed, everything ended with the death of the nine hostages and a German policeman.
Adidas chose to star in its promotional campaign Bella Hadid, a famous American model, daughter of a Palestinian tycoon and a Dutch model, who has expressed her support for Palestinian rights throughout her career, but whose opinions generated more controversy after the October 7 attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
“We are aware that links to tragic historical events have been made, even if these are entirely unintentional, and we apologise for any inconvenience or pain” this may have caused, the brand said in a statement sent to AFP.
Model Bella Hadid has been removed from the campaign with immediate effect, an Adidas spokeswoman said.
Reactions
Adidas’ campaign sparked a wave of criticism on social media. “I will not buy anything from companies that have anything in common with anti-Semites,” wrote one user on X.
The unrest was particularly noticeable among senior Israeli officials.
“Guess who is the face of the campaign: Bella Hadid, a model of Palestinian origin who often spreads anti-Semitism and calls for violence against Israelis and Jews,” the Israeli embassy in Germany reacted vehemently on the X network on Thursday.
Hadid, 27, has remained silent for more than two weeks after the bloody Sept. 7 attack that sparked the conflict in Gaza, when Islamist Hamas commandos and other Palestinian groups killed 1,195 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251 in southern Israel, according to a tally based on official Israeli data.
On October 26, Hadid apologized for her silence in a message in which she said she was mourning Israeli families and condemned “terrorist attacks against any civilian, anywhere.”
Since then, the model has regularly condemned Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, part of an offensive that has left 38,800 people dead, most of them civilians, according to the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.
The brand will continue to promote its vintage model with other faces: Jules Koundé, French footballer; A$AP Nast, American rapper and songwriter; Melissa Bon, Swiss-Ethiopian musician; and Sabrina Lan, Chinese model and influencer living in Berlin.
Source: AFP
