Converse scraps ‘deeply upsetting’ advert after backlash
Popular footwear company Converse has apologised after it pulled an advert that critics compared to Ku Klux Klan hoods and lynching imagery.
The Nike-owned brand said it acknowledged “that we got this wrong” following a social media backlash over an image that appeared to be a white pointed hood.
Footwear company Converse has pulled this advert that critics said invoked Ku Klux Klan imagery. Converse
Online users also protested against a pair of shoes, dangling in the picture, likening it to an image of a lynching victim.
Converse issued a statement to US industry publication Footwear News on Friday admitting the advert was a mistake.
“We’re sorry. We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognise 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 photo was part of a campaign promoting its Chuck 70 X trainer, launched globally on August 27.
Converse has pulled an advert that critics compared with imagery from the Ku Klux Klan, Converse
It showed Karina from the girl group Aespa standing under the light of a star-shaped spotlight while holding a pair of black sneakers and wearing a calf-length white skirt.
The Ku Klux Klan, or KKK, is an American white supremacist group that dates back to the country’s civil war that ended in 1865.
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