put in an ad campaign for its SL72 sneaker, received backlash from the Israeli government over it, dropped her from the campaign, and is now being sued by Hadid for “lack of accountability” — all in the span of half a week. How did the release of a shoe cause all of this? Let’s break it down. This whole mess starts with the Adidas SL72 silhouette, first released in conjunction with the 1972 Summer Olympics, which was held in the West German city of Munich.
The games were meant to present West Germany (pre-unification) as a place of democratic optimism (in contrast to East Berlin) but were tragically overshadowed by the Munich massacre, which saw the Palestinian militant organization Black September infiltrate the Olympic Village during the games’ second week. The militants took Israeli athletes hostage and demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel and German prisons, when a gun battle with German police ensued, Black September killed 11 Israeli athletes and a German police officer. Bella Hadid — who is of Palestinian descent — has long been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian plight and has become even more vocal amidst the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which has led the Israeli government to criticize Adidas’ choice to have Hadid star in the campaign of a shoe that is connected to such a horrific event.
Israel took to X last Thursday to to the campaign, tweeting directly at Adidas, . recently launched a new campaign for their shoes to hi.