Adidas is once again under fire, this time facing a legal battle with supermodel Bella Hadid, who reportedly hired a team of lawyers. It all follows a recent controversy surrounding her collaboration with the brand on a campaign.
The Controversial Campaign
About a month ago, Hadid was pictured in a campaign to re-introduce their retro sneakers, which were first released in 1972 as part of the Munich Olympics.
This very Olympics faced a tragic event when a Palestinian group called Black September broke into the Olympic Village, demanding the release of Palestinians held in Israeli and German prisons. 11 Israeli athletes were killed on that day.
Having the campaign for the sneakers from those very Olympics get re-introduced was triggering for Israel. That is when the Israeli government took to X (formerly Twitter) to criticize the brand’s choice to have Hadid star in the campaign.
Here is what they posted:
Hadid’s Response
After being criticized by the Israeli government, Hadid is not backing down without a fight. Sources say that she has already hired a legal council to fight Adidas in court. She is expected to sue the sportswear giant because of its lack of “public accountability.”
More rumors have been flooding in, where some have inferred that Adidas has dropped the supermodel while TMZ claims that the model is still under contract with Adidas.
What is known so far is that both Adidas and Hadid removed the campaign from their Instagram accounts. Now, we will just have to wait and see how the legal battle will take place.