Adidas is not getting a gold medal for an advertising campaign with Bella Hadid … the shoe giant is apologizing for what many are calling a big antisemitic mistake.
Here’s the deal … Adidas made Bella the face of its marketing plan for a retro sneaker referencing the 1972 Munich Olympics … the Games where Palestinian terrorists infamously murdered 11 members of Israel’s Olympic team after taking them hostage.
The issue … Bella’s a Palestinian-American model who has been a vocal critic of Israel amid the war in Gaza … and her involvement with a shoe commemorating the Munich massacre pissed off folks at the American Jewish Committee.
The AJC called out Adidas for what it termed an “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.”
It didn’t take long for Adidas to issue a mea culpa, posting an apology later Thursday on social media.
Adidas says … “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.”
Another reason why this is such a big deal … Adidas, a German corporation, has a long history of having Nazis within their ranks — and while that’s kinda ancient history in 2024, it’s still part of their story … and doesn’t look good in light of this move.
We’ve reached out to Bella for comment … so far, no word back.