Sneaker giant Adidas is in the Jewish hot seat after an advertising campaign featuring Palestinian model Bella Hadid for which the company apologized for what has been seen as anti-Semitic.
The problem with the ad is that the campaign is for a retro 1972 Munich Olympics sneaker, the same Olympics where 12 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and later murdered by their captors. Hadid has been an outspoken critic of the State of Israel and the war in Gaza, so her appearance in the ad commemorating the Munich Olympics caused an uproar at the American Jewish Committee.
The AJC slammed Adidas for what its “egregious error,” saying, “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 quickly issued an apology, 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.”
