Model and activist Arvida Byström is known for choosing not to shave her body hair.

Along with other iconic young women, she was chosen by Adidas to feature in the brand's latest shoe ad.

Byström's photo features the model wearing the Adidas shoes and a dress, and showing her leg hair.

The 15 second spot she had in the ad has now granted her a wave of criticism and nasty comments, including rape threats.

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Commenters online have called her "disgusting" and "ugly" for choosing not to shave.

She took to Instagram to address the issue.

"My photo from the @adidasoriginals superstar campaign got a lot of nasty comments last week," she wrote.

"Me being such an abled, white, cis body with its only nonconforming feature being a lil leg hair. Literally I've been getting rape threats in my DM inbox.

"I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to not posses all these privileges and try to exist in the world. Sending love and try to remember that not everybody has the same experiences being a person," she added.