Screenshot from Dior's lates campaign video via Instagram
The French luxury fashion brand Christian Dior faced online criticism after choosing Israeli model May Tager for its latest campaign.
The controversy unfolded amid the ongoing Hamas-Israel war. Israel has vowed to "annihilate" Hamas and has conducted continuous airstrikes on the besieged enclave that is home to 2.4 million Palestinians.
Tager shared posts related to a Dior fragrance and product advertisement on her Instagram account. While supporters of Israel praised Dior's choice, others called for a boycott of the luxury brand. Hundreds of users flooded the comments section of Tager’s posts with “Free Palestine” and Palestinian flag emojis.
Dior did not respond to L’Orient-Le Jour’s request for comment. Some critics suggested that Dior may have replaced American-Palestinian model Bella Hadid with May Tager. However, press reports indicate that Hadid left Dior for Charlotte Tilbury in March 2022.
On X (formerly Twitter), the hashtag #BoycottDior was widely used.
The Yuli group, representing May Tager in Israel, expressed pride in her "incredible success" in a statement reported by Haaretz. The statement mentioned Yuli’s years-long support for Tager, which helped her become one of Israel’s most globally renowned models. Despite the challenging times, Israelis find pride in knowing that an Israeli has become the face of a leading global brand.
Bella Hadid's collaboration with Dior started in 2016, when she became an ambassador for the brand and participated in multiple advertising campaigns. In late October, Hadid took to social media and condemned Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, expressing pain for the trauma unfolding and the generational trauma of her Palestinian heritage.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.