Sportswear giant Adidas is facing intense criticism and widespread calls for a boycott over a new advertising campaign that features a former Israeli soldier.
The campaign promotes Adidas’s in-store single-shoe service for amputees. It features Shalev Biton, a former Israeli army soldier who lost his leg after being wounded during the 11-day Israel-Gaza conflict in 2021. In the advertisement, Biton is seen trying on a shoe at a store in Israel and running outdoors.
Activists and prominent public figures have condemned the campaign, reports Al Jazeera.
Stephanie Westbrook, a sports boycott campaigns coordinator for the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), a founding member of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, described the advertisement as an “absolute affront” to Palestinians.
Westbrook warned that such campaigns risk normalising what she described as Israel’s crimes and allowing it to continue acting with impunity.
She highlighted that Biton’s identity is centred around being a soldier who served in the army of a state currently committing genocide, carrying out an illegal military occupation, and imposing apartheid rule over Palestinians.
The German athletic apparel company has not yet responded to requests for comment.
The backlash comes amid devastating casualty figures in Gaza. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that between 5,000 and 6,000 Palestinians in Gaza had undergone amputations by early October 2025, when a ceasefire was signed.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report said 42,000 Palestinians have suffered life-altering injuries since the war began in October 2023, of which 11,000 are children.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has reported that children account for a quarter of all amputations in Gaza over the past two years, making the enclave the place in the world with the highest number of child amputees per capita.
Westbrook highlighted that the ongoing Israeli blockade prevents essential medicines and prosthetics from entering Gaza, creating a severe shortage after Israel’s destruction of medical facilities.
The campaign has also drawn criticism due to its contrast with the plight of Palestinian athletes. While the Adidas advertisement shows an Israeli soldier returning to running, more than 1,000 Palestinian athletes have been killed during Israel’s war on Gaza.
Additionally, hundreds of aspiring footballers have lost limbs and have formed amputee football teams, trying to reclaim fragments of their former lives despite months of loss, injuries, and widespread destruction.
Several global figures have joined the boycott calls. Spanish actor and pro-Palestine activist Javier Bardem shared images and videos highlighting the campaign on his social media accounts.
US-Palestinian author Susan Abulhawa, Pakistani author Fatima Bhutto, and many Palestinians on social media have also urged a boycott of Adidas products.
