Bella Hadid in Adidas SL 72 sneakers ad
The Bella Hadid vs Adidas 1972 Olympics SL 72 Sneakers campaign saga continues to make headlines as Adidas, one of the world’s leading sportswear firms, was forced to apologize to the supermodel because the company apologized for having the campaign in the first place. Confused?
Well, Bella Hadid was chosen to be the face of Adidas’ relaunch of its “classic” SL 72 sneakers. Unfortunately, these sneakers are tainted by their connection to the 1972 Olympic Games held in Munich, Germany, where 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by terrorists. And Bella Hadid has attacked Israel since last year’s October 7Hamas terrorist massacre in which 1,200 people were murdered including children, babies and whole families with people even being burned alive. Hadid says that Israel has no right to exist.
So, after a backlash, Adidas pulled the ad campaign.
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However, Bella Hadid threatened to sue the company for doing so and so now Adidas is trying to appease her.
“Connections continue to be made to the terrible tragedy that occurred at the Munich Olympics due to our recent SL72 campaign,” Adidas said in a statement. “These connections are not meant and we apologize for any upset or distress caused to communities around the world.”
And Adidas went on to apologize saying, “We made an unintentional mistake. We also apologize to our partners, Bella Hadid, A$AP Nast, Jules Koundré, and others, for any negative impact on them and we are revising the campaign,” the statement added.
Balla Hadid had posted anti-Israel comments on social media. One post read, “The way my heart feels. To be around this many beautiful, smart, respectful, loving , kind and generous Palestinians all in one place… it feels whole ! We are a rare breed!! “It’s free Palestine til Palestine is free!!!”
In another post the super model wrote, “Palestine on my mind, in my blood and on my heart,” she wrote, in part, in an Instagram post on May 28. “Always… While I still have to go to work, even through this horror, to wear our culture makes me a proud Palestinian & I want the world to continue to see Palestine, wherever we go.”
When the new Bella Hadid ad campaign was first released, Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned it.
“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,” said the Foreign Ministry on Twitter. “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.”
“She and her father frequently promote blood libels and antisemitic conspiracies against Jews,” continued the post.
The American Jewish Committee had commented, “For Adidas to pick a vocal anti-Israel model to recall this dark Olympics is either a massive oversight or intentionally inflammatory. Neither is acceptable.”
Last week Adidas issued an apology on the matter saying, “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. 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.”
It now remains to be seen if Bela Hadid really will go through with her threat of a lawsuit against Adidas.
