Adidas Called Out By Israel Over Tone-Deaf Ad Campaign Featuring Bella Hadid
Adidas launched an advertising campaign around a new shoe, the SL 72. The campaign features model Bella Hadid and the shoe pays homage to the original shoe, which was released by the company in 1972 ahead of the Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany and worn by many track-and-field athletes in the Games.
The problem is that the '72 Olympics are most known for a terrorist attack on Israeli athletes and coaches by a Palestinian militant group. The attack is referred to as the "Munich Massacre."
Given the current state of affairs between Palestine and Israel, the latter took great offense to the use of this advertisement ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
An image of an Adidas ad for the SL 72 sneaker that features model Bella Hadid, whose father is Palestinian.
(Gotham/GC Images)
The official X (formerly Twitter) account of the state of Israel posted a scathing commentary about the decision by Adidas to promote this shoe – with Bella Hadid – during a tumultuous time.
"Adidas recently launched a new campaign for their shoes to highlight the 1972 Munich Olympics. Eleven Israelis were murdered by Palestinian terrorists during the Munich Olympics," the account, which is run by Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote.
"Guess who the face of their campaign is? Bella Hadid, a half-Palestinian model who has a history of spreading antisemitism and calling for violence against Israelis and Jews."
Tammy Rahamimoff-Honig, a Deputy Head of the Israel Foreign Ministry, noted that the positioning of the shoes in the advertisement bears a resemblance to the "red triangle" that Hamas uses to identify Israeli targets.
"Is it possible the Adidas ad also hints at Hamas’ repugnant red triangle indicating the slaughter of Israelis/Jews?" she wrote.
According to CBC, "The inverted red triangle has been used in videos by the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, to identify Israeli military targets, such as tanks, in Gaza as Israel began its ground invasion there. A caricature mocking Israeli soldiers included the symbol, as do many pro-Palestinian social media posts."
OutKick reached out to Adidas to ask if the company considered the potential optics when deciding to release this campaign.
"We are conscious that connections have been made to tragic historical events — though these are completely unintentional — and we apologize for any upset or distress caused," the company said in a statement.
"As a result, we are revising the remainder of the campaign. We believe in sport as a unifying force around the world and will continue our efforts to champion diversity and equality in everything we do."
Adidas released a new ad campaign featuring Bella Hadid and the State of Israel criticized the decision.
(Getty Images)
It appears that revision is already taking place. Several users on social media noted that Adidas mentioned the 1972 Summer Olympics in its original posting of the shoe on the company website.
However, that reference no longer exists.
"Introduced in 1972, SL 72 shoes and sneakers from Adidas revolutionized running for track-and-field athletes seeking speed and agility on the track," the description now reads, in part.
It's hard to understand how massive corporations continue to botch marketing so badly. With all the people that work in those departments – and presumably dozens (or more) signing off on these campaigns – how does this happen?
Although it is somewhat refreshing that after people pointed out the obvious problems with the campaign, Adidas elected to make changes.