“This should not have happened and we will do better,” the Nike-owned brand said in a statement to PEOPLE
Credit: Converse
NEED TO KNOW
- Converse issued an apology after a recent ad promoting the Chuck 70 X and Run Star Crush sneakers went viral for what many saw as evoking racist imagery
- In one of the campaign photos, social media users pointed out that a star-shaped spotlight created a silhouette that seemed to resemble a KKK hood
- “No, you’re not crazy. Yes, the Converse ad is racist … ‘It’s just a shoe ad is not a defense,’ ” one person wrote on social media
Converse is apologizing after receiving backlash across social media for a recent sneaker campaign.
Karina of the girl group Aespa featured in the Nike-owned brand’s campaign promoting the Chuck 70 X and Run Star Crush sneakers. One image showed the K-pop star standing under the light of a star-shaped spotlight while holding a pair of black high-top sneakers and wearing a calf-length white skirt.
The ad went viral as many social media users interpreted the imagery as racist.
While some pointed out that the spotlight lighting created an outline that resembled the shape of a Ku Klux Klan hood, others believed that the way Karina held the pair of shoes appeared to resemble lynching imagery.
Credit: Converse
“No, you’re not crazy. Yes, the Converse ad is racist,” one user wrote on X. “Yes, it looks like a Klan outfit. Yes, it looks like a lynching. And no, ‘it’s just a shoe ad’ is not a defense.”
Another recent image featured two models climbing a wooden ladder to reach pairs of shoes that could be seen hanging from a tree branch. According to Women’s Wear Daily, the image was shared on the Converse Malaysia Instagram account highlighting the Converse x Palmes campaign for the Jack Purcell PDM sneaker collection.
“The Klan silhouette is one thing,” one user wrote on Threads. “But the tree, ladder, and person in the distance looking up while holding up Converse shoes. Abhorrent. Unfathomable. Repugnant.”
After receiving widespread backlash for the imagery, the brand issued an apology.
“We’re sorry,” Converse said in a statement to PEOPLE. “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,” the statement continued. “This should not have happened and we will do better.”
Longtime fans of the brand have taken to social media to show themselves burning their sneakers and emphasizing that impact matters more than intent.
“Even if it wasn’t Converse’s intentions, whoever decided that it was a good idea to post this ad in this political climate, you are a dumbass and you deserve to lose your job,” one user said in a TikTok video. “That is a depiction of the triple K right there. Pointed hood, dangling Converses, as if someone’s being strung up from a … Black people ain’t stupid, bro.”
Credit: Alamy
Louisiana Congressman Troy Carter condemned the brand for quietly pulling the images.
“Nike and Converse, what the hell were you thinking?” he wrote in a press release. “I am a Black man, a son of the South and a Member of Congress from Louisiana. Where I come from, the image of Black people hanging from trees is not ancient history.”
“That pain still lives in our families and communities,” he continued. “The white hood is not some harmless costume. It is a symbol of terror, murder and generations of racial violence.”
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Emphasizing that “black pain is not a marketing prop,” Carter went on to insist that the brand “answer for” its actions.
“Lynching is not a creative concept. The Ku Klux Klan is not an aesthetic,” he added. “This campaign should never have been created, approved or released. Nike and Converse must answer for it. You have caused real harm, and repairing that harm will require more than an apology written by your public relations department.”
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