Bella Hadid is fighting back after Adidas pulled her recent ad campaign that featured her wearing running shoes inspired by a design from the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Us Weekly has learned that Hadid has retained litigation counsel to take action against Adidas “for their lack of public accountability” for putting out a campaign that “would associate anyone with the death and violence of what took place at the 1972 Munich Games,” explained the insider, noting the responsibility of corporations to properly vet their own campaigns and the historical events surrounding them.
The source adds, “Violence is not consistent with Bella’s views.”
Hadid does not take issue with the campaign being pulled. She is, however, upset that Adidas would reference the 1972 Olympics without acknowledging the historical context beforehand. The company has since claimed that any connection made between the campaign and the tragic 1972 event was “completely unintentional.”
Adidas earned criticism from Israel and others for not only including Hadid, who is of Palestinian heritage, in the ad, but for using the 1972 Olympics as inspiration despite a terrorist attack that took place at the event. Israel condemned the advertising, as well as Hadid’s involvement, on their X account on Thursday, July 18.
The shoe company apologized for the commercial and said Friday that they are “revising the remainder of the campaign.”
“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,” they said in a statement.
“We believe in sport as a unifying force around the world and will continue our efforts to champion diversity and equality in everything we do,” they continued.
The 1972 Olympics can be best remembered for a tragic massacre that took place just a week into the multi-sport event. On September 5 of that year, eight members of the Palestinian Black September militant group took 11 Israeli athletes and coaches hostage, with all victims being subsequently killed. A German police officer was also murdered.
The ad, which was for the “SL72 ” trainers, showed Hadid sporting the sneakers while holding a bouquet of flowers as she stood in front of a red backdrop. “Giving Bella Hadid her flowers in the SL 72,” Adidas had tweeted on Thursday before deleting the campaigns from social media.
The American Jewish Committee also chimed in on the contentious advertisement, demanding that the company change the “egregious error.”
“At the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, 12 Israelis were murdered and taken hostage by Palestinian terrorist group Black September. 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,” the AJC tweeted on Thursday.
Hadid has yet to publicly comment on the controversy, and she did share a snap earlier this week of herself on Instagram standing by Adidas billboard. However, as of July 20, her post has been deleted.
