Adidas faces boycott calls over campaign featuring former Israeli soldier
Activists slam campaign showing soldier while over 5,000 Palestinians faced amputations due to Israeli attacks in Gaza.
Sportswear giant Adidas has faced criticism and calls for a boycott for featuring a former Israeli army soldier in an advertising campaign for the company’s single-shoe service for amputees.
The Adidas advertisement promoting its in-store service, which shows former Israeli soldier Shalev Biton trying on a shoe at a store in Israel and then wearing it while running outdoors, was termed “an affront to Palestinians” by a boycott campaigns coordinator on Sunday.
Biton lost his leg after being wounded during the 2021 Israel-Gaza conflict, during which the Israeli army attacked the besieged enclave repeatedly in an 11-day assault.
While the advertisement shows the soldier returning to the streets to exercise and run, more than one thousand Palestinian athletes have been killed during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.