Converse removed an advertisement after criticism over associations with Ku Klux Klan symbolism

The sneaker manufacturer Converse has removed an advertisement that was criticized for evoking associations with racist imagery. UNN reports this, citing CBS News.

Details

The image, published on Instagram, featured K-pop singer Karina in a long white skirt holding a pair of classic Chuck 70 X high-top sneakers. Online critics said the triangular skirt resembled a Ku Klux Klan hood, while the way the singer was depicted with a pair of sneakers also evoked the image of a lynching victim.

Converse, which is owned by Nike, apologized for the advertisement and removed it from the internet.

"We are deeply sorry," the company said in a statement to CBS News.

"We understand why this image is deeply upsetting, and we acknowledge that we got it wrong. We have 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 said.

Lee Merritt, a civil rights attorney from Texas in the United States, wrote on Instagram that Converse's apology "does not negate the fact that it passed by the legal, marketing, and management departments at every stage."

Converse, founded in Malden, Massachusetts, in the United States, in 1908, first released its Chuck Taylor All Star basketball sneakers in 1917.

What the experts say

Marketing experts and social justice advocates criticized the advertisement as culturally insensitive, while some critics suggested that the campaign may have been deliberately created to attract attention by provoking outrage.

"This is a strategy in the attention economy. We get the impression that these images pass through many different channels before reaching the public, so it is difficult to imagine that no one noticed what seems so obvious," Nadine Smith, CEO of the racial justice organization Color of Change, told CBS News.

Marcus Collins, an expert in marketing and culture at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business, said that although he does not believe Converse's marketing team intended to offend anyone, intent matters less than how the image was perceived by the public.

"Converse's response did not match the level of distress with which people reacted to the advertisement," he told CBS News. The company now has the task of rebuilding consumer trust, he added.

Not the only brand

Converse is not the only brand to have recently faced a consumer backlash over an advertisement accused of racism. In August, discount retailer Target stopped selling a children's Halloween costume that, according to some critics, evoked racist minstrel caricatures, the Associated Press reports.

Target acknowledged that the costume was inappropriate. "This costume is offensive and should never have been part of our assortment. It is no longer being sold," a Target statement said last month.