Model regrets Adidas campaign that evoked Munich Olympics

JTA – Bella Hadid expressed regret for modelling an Adidas sneaker originally designed for the 1972 Munich Olympics in which 11 Israelis were murdered in a Palestinian terror attack.

Hadid, a Palestinian-American supermodel and activist, said she hadn’t known of the 1972 attack, which targeted Israel’s Olympic delegation. She spoke of a “collective lack of understanding”, and said she didn’t “believe in hate in any form, including antisemitism”. She posted the statement to Instagram on Monday, 30 July.

“I would never knowingly engage with any art or work linked to a horrific tragedy of any kind,” Hadid said. “In advance of the campaign’s release, I had no knowledge of the historical connection to the atrocious events in 1972. I’m shocked, I’m upset, and I’m disappointed in the lack of sensitivity that went into this campaign.

“Had I been made aware, from the bottom of my heart, I would never have participated. My team should have known, Adidas should have known, and I should have done more research so that I, too, would have known, understood, and spoken up.”

Hadid’s statement comes after Adidas pulled the advertising campaign last week in response to the backlash, and apologised to her and the other models in the campaign.

The Paris Olympics mark only the third time the Games have commemorated the 1972 massacre, in which 11 athletes and coaches were killed, in addition to a West German police officer. Officials reportedly obscured the location of the commemoration due to security concerns. French authorities are also investigating death threats targeting three current Israeli Olympic athletes, along with chants of “Heil Hitler” and Nazi salutes at a recent Israel-Paraguay Olympic soccer match.

Ahead of the Olympics, pro-Israel social-media accounts criticised the campaign and Adidas’ decision to hire Hadid to model the shoe, citing her history of criticism of Israel. Hadid has also been accused of spreading misinformation about the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and sharing content that downplayed the experiences of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

In her statement, Hadid lamented associations between Palestinian identity and terrorism.

“Palestine isn’t synonymous with terrorism, and this campaign unintentionally highlighted an event that doesn’t represent who we are,” she said. “I’m a proud Palestinian woman. There’s so much more to our culture than the things that have been equated over the past week.”

She added, “Antisemitism has no place in the liberation of the Palestinian people.”

The controversy marks yet another instance in recent years in which Adidas has faced criticism for antisemitism related to its design choices and celebrity affiliations. In April, the typeface for the German soccer team, DFB’s, jersey number 44 – which isn’t in use by the team, but which buyers could customise – was challenged as resembling the Nazi SS insignia. In 2022, following backlash, the company broke its lucrative partnership with Ye, the rapper and designer formerly known as Kanye West, after he made a string of antisemitic comments. The company’s founders were also members of the Nazi Party, and made shoes for the regime.