Adidas apologises for ‘offence’ caused by accessibility campaign featuring IDF amputee

Sports retailing giant Adidas issued a statement from its international head office on Monday 7 September apologising for any “offence” it caused by featuring a wounded IDF veteran in a promotional campaign for a service enabling amputee athletes to buy just one running shoe.

Shalev Biton lost a leg on 12 May 2021 whilst serving in the Israeli army’s Nahal infantry brigade during a conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Injured when an anti-tank missile hit his military vehicle, whilst his fellow soldier Omer Tabib was killed, Biton, who now runs with a prosthetic limb, was one of 10 disabled athletes featured in a series of posters displayed in local Adidas outlets across Israel.

The local ads were not part of the company’s global campaign, which launched in Europe earlier this year.

Outraged pro-Palestinian activists, including Spanish actor Javier Bardem, claimed the campaign, whose posters featuring Biton only appeared in Israel, appeared to focus on Israeli amputees rather than Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. They also accused Biton of participating in “genocide”, and called for a global boycott of Adidas.

In response, the company said: “We recognize that an image used in a recent local activation by the local team has raised concerns and strong reactions. It was never our intent to cause offense and we apologize for anyone affected. We acknowledge the concerns that have been raised and are taking the feedback seriously.”

It added: “Across the Middle East, Adidas has a long-standing commitment to the communities we serve, working alongside athletes, teams and sporting communities throughout the region as well as supporting people and communities in need through product donations.”

“We will continue to listen, learn and work to ensure that our actions reflect the inclusive values we stand for.”

Posting on his Instagram account on Monday 7 September, Shalev Biton, who has now deleted a video he filmed featuring him promoting the shoe, wrote: “This story is much bigger than me. It’s about Israel. It’s about our soldiers. It’s about families, friends and an entire country living through a reality that is so often reduced to headlines, clips and narratives from thousands of miles away.”

In July 2024, Adidas apologised for any “upset or distress caused” by the re-issue of its 1972 Munich Olympic trainer with Palestinian-American Bella Hadid as its campaign face. As reported by Jewish News, the company had faced intense international criticism for the perceived insensitivity of the choice of an outspoken critic of Israel as the face of a shoe named for a sporting event where 11 Jews were murdered by Palestinian terrorists.

In 2023, chief executive Bjørn Gulden defended disgraced racist rapper Kanye West over his antisemitic rants, (which included claims he was “going death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” and praising Adolf Hitler and the Nazis), saying, “I don’t think he meant what he said.” The comments came as Gulden, who was not in his Adidas role at the time West launched his attacks on Jewish people, discussed the end of the Adidas Yeezy trainer deal with the musician.