Adidas apologizes for any ‘offense’ over promotion featuring ex-IDF soldier who lost leg in 2021

Sportswear giant Adidas apologizes for any “offense” as it faces backlash and boycott calls over its inclusion of a former Israeli soldier to promote a service that enables amputee athletes to buy just one running shoe.

Pro-Palestinian activists panned the company for working with Shalev Biton, injured in Gaza in 2021, citing the high number of amputees in the Strip, and in particular children, as a result of the recent war there.

“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,” the company says in a statement from its global headquarters, apparently distancing itself from the campaign by Adidas in Israel.

Adidas stresses that its Single Shoe service is a campaign aimed at promoting inclusion that was initially introduced in Europe, but that the “service continues to expand across Europe, Asia and the Middle East, including the UAE, Palestine, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt.”

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

Biton, along with 10 other disabled athletes, was featured in a series of posters displayed in local Adidas outlets across Israel. The posters were only used in Israel and not as part of a global campaign.

Biton was formerly a soldier serving in the IDF’s Nahal infantry brigade. On May 12, 2021, during a conflict with Hamas in Gaza dubbed Operation Guardian of the Walls, he was injured when an anti-tank missile fired from inside Gaza hit the military vehicle he was in on the Israeli side of the border. Biton was seriously injured, and fellow soldier Staff Sgt. Omer Tabib was killed.

As a result of his injuries, Biton’s left leg was amputated. After rehabilitation, he now runs with a prosthetic limb.