Adidas Faces Boycott Calls Over Campaign Featuring Former Israeli Soldier

Sportswear company Adidas is facing calls for a boycott after featuring Shalev Biton, a former Israeli soldier and amputee, in an advertising campaign. The campaign promotes the company's in-store single shoe service, which allows customers with limb differences to purchase a single shoe at 50 percent of the listed price. Biton lost his leg during the May 2021 conflict between Israel and Gaza. According to a center right source, the posters were used only within Israel and featured ten other disabled athletes alongside Biton.

Pro Palestine activists and public figures, including actor Javier Bardem, have criticized the campaign. Critics argue that featuring an Israeli soldier is an affront to Palestinians, particularly given the high number of amputations among Palestinians in Gaza. A center left source notes that the World Health Organization estimates between 5,000 and 6,000 people in Gaza underwent amputations as of early October 2025. Activists from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel state that the campaign normalizes Israeli military actions.

Framing of the event varies by political lean. Center left sources frame the campaign as an insensitive act that ignores the suffering of Palestinian amputees and supports a state they describe as committing genocide. In contrast, a center right source frames the backlash as an insane wave of hatred driven by anti Israel figures, noting that some critics falsely claimed Biton served during the current Gaza war. Biton has reported receiving tens of thousands of abusive messages and reports on social media following the controversy.