To mark the 68th anniversary of the creation of the Jewish state, an enterprising individual had a custom-made pair of Reebok’s sneakers produced with the logo “Israel 68” and a blue-and-white color scheme, planning to auction it off as a collector’s item. The company’s Israel division then decided to promote and sell the design on its Facebook page as a special Independence Day offer. When, unsurprisingly, bigots denounced Reebok, the company hastily retreated. Jonathan Marks notes what is most disturbing about its reaction:
[Corporate spokespeople] said, truly enough, that Reebok International had nothing to do with the shoe. But a representative added . . . that Reebok “does not allow its sportswear to be politicized and refrains from distributing shoes tied to national emblems or countries.”
But . . . the latter claim is simply and demonstrably false. Reebok collaborated with a German sneaker boutique to distribute a shoe, “featuring some German military inspiration,” with a German flag patch on its tongue. And Reebok hardly refrains from using other national emblems that some people find offensive.
But second, and more importantly, Reebok accepted the premise that shoes celebrating the independence of Israel were, by virtue of that fact “politicized.” We are used to supporters of BDS forgetting to pretend that they are merely against Israel’s presence in the West Bank and making it clear that they are simply against Israel. We are not used to international companies agreeing that the mere act of celebrating Israel’s independence is “politicized.”
Read more on Commentary: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/foreign-policy/middle-east/israel/sneaker-advice-bds-edition/