Adidas pulls Palestinian model from Olympic Ad campaign

Adidas has pulled advertising images showing Bella Hadid promoting a sports shoe first launched in the year of the 1972 Munich Olympics after a public outcry about using the US fashion model, who has been accused of antisemitism by the Israeli government.

Hadid, whose family has roots in Palestine, has in the past been criticised by the Israeli government for allegedly chanting “From the river to the Sea — Palestine will be free”, a controversial slogan that it said is used by those who call for the elimination of Israel.

The 27-year-old model, who has been an Adidas brand ambassador for some time, was one of several celebrities promoting a relaunch of the Adidas SL 72 shoe, which was first introduced in the year of the Munich Olympic Games where 11 members of the Israeli team were killed in an attack by pro-Palestine militants.

Israel’s embassy in Germany and pro-Jewish groups such as StopAntisemitism criticised Adidas on social media site X over the campaign, pointing to the 1972 massacre.

Adidas told the Financial Times on Friday that it was “revising the remainder of the campaign” without disclosing details about its changes. Campaign images showing Hadid promoting the SL 72 have disappeared from social media. Other images showing Adidas brand ambassadors including French footballer Jules Koundé, US rapper A$AP Nast and Chinese model Sabrina Lan were still online.