Adidas CEO Bjørn Gulden has officially apologized for the controversial ad campaign for the SL72 that starred Bella Hadid. In a recent earnings call to stakeholders, adidas not only reported a 12% revenue growth in Q2 but Gulden officially spoke on the most recent backlash.
Telling reporters on the earning call, Gulden said “We did the mistake in the way that bits and pieces in this campaign were put together and when you do a mistake, you apologize and you move on — and that’s what we did.” In the same press conference, Gulden also confirmed that adidas still has an ongoing relationship with the supermodel. He said, “She’s still a friend of the brand and yes, we pay her according to her contract.” Following adidas’ initial apology after they pulled the campaign, reports indicated that Hadid was looking to sue adidas for their lack of accountability. On that matter, Gulden claims, “We have not heard anything that she’s going to sue us. So I don’t know where that rumor started.”
Earlier this week, Hadid finally spoke out on the matter, taking to her Instagram Story to release a statement. She wrote, “For those of you that do not know my heart, I want to make sure you’re hearing directly from me about my recent campaign with Adidas. I would never knowingly engage with any art or work that is linked to a horrific tragedy of any kind.” Always vocal about being a proud Palestinian, Hadid said, “I will forever stand by my people of Palestine while continuing to advocate for a world free of antisemitism. Antisemitism has no place in the liberation of the Palestinian people.”
