Adidas is facing calls for a boycott after featuring former Israeli soldier Shalev Biton in a campaign for its Single Shoe Service, as critics question the choice against the backdrop of the Gaza war and thousands of life-changing injuries.
the backdrop of the war in Gaza and the growing number of Palestinians who have suffered life-changing injuries.
Biton lost his left leg after being wounded during fighting near Gaza in May 2021. Critics on social media have questioned Adidas’ decision to make him the face of an accessibility campaign while Palestinians in Gaza face severe shortages of rehabilitation services and assistive equipment.
The criticism is directed largely at the choice of campaign representative and the wider political context, rather than at the Single Shoe Service itself.
The debate comes as Gaza's health system struggles to care for thousands of people with serious injuries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated in May 2026 that more than 5,000 traumatic limb amputations and over 22,000 major extremity injuries had occurred in Gaza since October 2023.
More than 42,000 people have injuries requiring long-term rehabilitation, according to WHO. Between September 2024 and May 2026, the organisation said 2,277 amputees had been assessed, while only 502 had received prosthetic limbs.
The situation is particularly acute for children. UNICEF said in its latest appeal that more than 11,000 children had suffered life-changing injuries by 3 February 2026.
For critics, the figures have sharpened questions over whose experiences of disability are being recognised and supported during the conflict.
Spanish actor Javier Bardem has urged his followers to boycott Adidas following the campaign's promotion in Israel.
The controversy has also revived wider criticism of the company’s handling of issues linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly after its decision to remove Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid from a 2024 campaign.
That campaign featured a retro shoe linked to the 1972 Munich Olympics. Adidas apologised to Hadid and other campaign partners at the time, saying: “We made an unintentional mistake.”
The company said it was revising the campaign but did not reverse its decision to remove Hadid.
The latest backlash reflects a broader debate over how major international brands respond to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Palestinian activist Sami Al-Arian, director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at İstanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, accused Adidas of “targeting celebrities and famous people who support the Palestinian struggle”.
“I think there could very well be a boycott against the products of Adidas in which they would have to learn this lesson in a hard way by targeting their profits because they have been preferring profits over principles,” he said.
He also described the company's treatment of Hadid as “the height of such hypocrisy when it comes to the issue of Palestine.”
British political commentator Sami Hamdi said Adidas could face the same kind of pressure seen by other international brands targeted by boycott campaigns over the Gaza war.
“McDonald's, Starbucks, KFC, and other brands are already suffering the impact of boycott movements in Muslim-majority countries,” Hamdi said. “There are already calls to boycott Adidas in the same way.”
Adidas launched its Single Shoe Service in Europe on 19 January 2026 and formally announced the initiative in March. The service was made available at Adidas-owned stores across 23 European countries.
The programme is intended to make footwear more accessible to people who need only one shoe because of differences in foot size, mobility needs or other circumstances.
But the choice of Biton for the campaign has shifted the focus from the accessibility initiative to broader questions about disability, war and corporate responsibility.
With thousands of people in Gaza facing permanent injuries and limited access to rehabilitation and prosthetics, critics argue that the company’s choice of representative has taken on significance far beyond that of a conventional sportswear campaign.
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