Converse has issued an apology after its latest ad campaign was widely condemned on social media, with imagery compared to that of the Ku Klux Klan. The Nike-owned trainer brand faced intense backlash over visuals from the global Chuck 70 X campaign, which featured K-pop star Karina of the girl group Aespa. One image showed the 26-year-old singer holding a pair of black sneakers while standing in the centre of an illuminated star representing the Converse logo. The lighting and shadows created a triangle shape on her white satin skirt, which many social media users said made it resemble a pointed hood, with the shoes dangling underneath.
Campaign imagery sparks lynching comparisons
A second image, shared on the Converse Malaysia Instagram account earlier this month as part of the Converse x Palmes campaign for the Jack Purcell PDM collection, depicted two models climbing a tree, with one standing on a ladder and hanging a pair of Converse from a branch by their laces. As the images circulated online, users quickly criticised the brand for what was branded an 'atrociously racist' campaign, saying the visuals conveyed lynching symbolism.
@LeeMerrittesq wrote on X that they were appalled that 'someone signed off on this', arguing that Converse's apology 'doesn't undo what got past legal, marketing, and leadership at every step'. @unique56301 wrote that 'even if the intent was unintentional, the tone deafness of the entire campaign is shocking', calling the images 'a slap in the face'. @narindertweets branded the ad 'dreadful' and 'disgusting', while @LaPistolaDulce explained that the matter is 'bigger than poor taste'.
Social media users express outrage
'Whether that imagery was intentional or not, I cannot understand how something with those visual associations made it through concept development, photography, editing, marketing, executive review, and final approval without someone stopping and saying, "Do you see what this looks like?",' she penned. 'This is bigger than poor taste. It is an appalling failure to recognise or adequately safeguard against imagery inseparable from generations of racial violence, terror, intimidation, hate, and trauma that did not magically disappear when the history books turned the page.'
@rabbitSZN2 added that simply calling it 'just a shoe ad' is 'not a defence', and @KW33NSOHI9H declared it 'definitely the most racist ad of the season'. Other adjectives used to describe the marketing were 'abhorrent', 'unfathomable', and 'repugnant'.
Converse apologises and removes images
In the aftermath, the images were eventually removed from the brand's social media channels, and a statement was shared with Footwear News. 'We're sorry,' a spokesperson for the Nike-owned company began. 'We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognise that we got this wrong.' They continued: '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 Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which began in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee, is an American far-right, white supremacist group. Wearing white robes and pointed hoods to conceal their faces and evoke fear, they used beatings, lynchings (hangings), burnings, and other violent methods against African Americans and later Jews, Catholics, and immigrants. Following several eras and fights against civil rights, today the hate group is broken into smaller divisions.
Modern-day lynchings reported
Racially motivated hangings also still happen and are often misclassified as suicides to avoid police investigations. Earlier this year, the civil rights organisation JULIAN published a report titled A Crimson Record. The documents said that more than 70 suspected modern-day lynchings happened between 2000 and 2025 across seven Southern states.
