Adidas has apologized for its retro ad campaign highlighting the 1972 Munich Olympics, where Palestinian terrorists murdered eleven Israelis.
The sportswear brand initiated the campaign to relaunch the SL72 shoe, which was first on display at the 1972 Olympic Games. Palestinian Black September terrorists killed eleven Israelis and one German police officer at the Munich games, an event that “is etched into the collective memory of Germans and Israelis,” said Ron Prosor, Israel’s ambassador to Germany.
Although Adidas claimed that any political messaging related to Israel, or Palestinian terrorism, was “unintentional” in the SL72 campaign, the company said that it would “revise” the remainder of its campaign, including removing anti-Israel Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid from advertisements.
“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,” Adidas said in a statement.
Hadid, a face of the campaign and an Adidas brand ambassador, accused Israel of genocide after Hamas terrorists on October 7 murdered 1,200 Israelis in a surprise attack. With her sister Gigi, Hadid has donated around $1 million to Palestinian groups, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Some SL72 advertisements with different brand ambassadors, including French footballer Jules Koundé and rapper A$AP Nast, are still live, but the advertisements featuring Hadid have been removed from social media.
“Guess who the face of the campaign is? Bella Hadid, a model with Palestinian roots who has spread antisemitism in the past and incited violence against Israelis and Jews,” the Israeli Embassy in Germany said on social media.
The American Jewish Committee said that Adidas’s campaign was an “egregious error,” adding, “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.”
Adidas cut ties with rapper and Adidas shoe mogul Kanye West in October 2022 after he posted antisemitic messages on social media. “When I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” the rapper tweeted at the time. Adidas said in 2022 that it “does not tolerate antisemitism” and called West’s comments “unacceptable, hateful, and dangerous and [they] violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”