Converse has apologized and pulled an image from its Chuck 70 X campaign after people online said it looked like a Ku Klux Klan hood and a hanging figure.
What people saw
The photo shows K-pop star Karina of aespa, the campaign’s global ambassador, in an oversized white skirt while holding a pair of Converse sneakers. A shadow of Converse’s five-pointed star logo falls across her, and one point of the star runs up the white fabric. The shadow also hides part of her arm, so the second pair of shoes appears to dangle beside the pointed white shape. Some viewers read that shape as a hood.
A second image drew similar comparisons. It came from Converse’s collaboration with the label Palmes and shows a man on a ladder holding sneakers overhead. Some viewers likened it to lynching imagery.
How it played out
According to Snopes, the Karina photo was posted to Converse’s official Threads account on Sept. 3, and the Palmes image circulated around Sept. 14. The reaction spread across Threads, Reddit, X, Facebook and Instagram.
Actress Yvette Nicole Brown was among those who criticized the Karina image. She wrote, “That’s a lynching, yes?” and “AND a Klan robe. Damn, Converse.” Not everyone agreed with the comparisons: Adweek quoted a culture writer who argued the outrage was overblown.
What Converse said
On Sept. 18, Converse, which is owned by Nike, issued a statement reported by TheGrio, Adweek and TMZ: “We’re sorry. We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong. We removed it from our channels and are working to remove it everywhere it appeared. This should not have happened, and we will do better.”
The statement doesn’t say how the images were reviewed or approved. The coverage reviewed for this story did not include comments from Karina, aespa, SM Entertainment or Nike.
