A shoe company became embroiled in one of the most asinine controversies imaginable after releasing an ad, and the company’s response to the backlash made it even more absurd.
Earlier this week, Converse collaborated with Karina of the K-pop group Aespa on a new Converse All-Stars ad for Asian markets. The shoes shown are Chuck 70 X trainers.
Karina is shown in the ad wearing a white skirt and holding a pair of Converse shoes at her side. She is also standing on a star.
LOOK:
While any normal person would see this and likely shrug, the woke mob descended on Converse.
Some idiot leftists saw images of the Ku Klux Klan. To them, the pointed white shape looked like a hood, while the hanging sneakers brought back memories of lynching.
No, you’re not crazy.
Yes, the Converse ad is racist.
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. pic.twitter.com/urDiTNuBt6
— Eh, what’s up Doc (@rabbitSZN2) September 18, 2026
How any American who is remotely educated can look at this horrifying ad & not see a klan hood and the feet of a hanging body…makes me speechless.
I cannot fathom why @Converse would green light something so abhorrent. Lynchings of Black people in the US is NOT ancient history pic.twitter.com/t0fou2Ct4Q
— NanaSue 🪷 🟧💙🇺🇸🌊🦅 (@NanaSueSpeaks) September 19, 2026
LIKE HELLO?!? https://t.co/NYWLsNFmcX pic.twitter.com/gV3nlqdV4n
— mari (@mikrocosmosis) September 19, 2026
aespa KARlNA’s Converse ad showing her wearing white attire lit to form what looks like a KKK hood.
This image went from a lot of approvals from photographers, creative directors, executives. And all of them said: “Approved.”
This is intentional. pic.twitter.com/7NPlw7JwN2
— ☀️ (@nadoobi) September 19, 2026
.@Converse, yall need to address this shit immediately. This isn’t even subtle messaging. It screams Jim Crow, and shows that no one on your marketing team has any sense of historical knowledge https://t.co/EHLV2NfwgR
— William A Goldsborough (@WmAG_V) September 18, 2026
After seeing this nonsense, Converse issued a blubbering apology on Friday for the “deeply upsetting” ad and voted to do “better.”
“This should not have happened, and we will do better,” the statement reads.
“We’re sorry. We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong.”
The company also halted the advertising campaign and pulled the ad from its social media channels.
Making this whole ordeal even more ludicrous is the fact that the Chief Marketing Officer at Converse is black. Presumably, he is the one who signed off on the ad.
“Someone signed off on this.”
The Chief Marketing Officer at Converse is black…Not everything is an act of racism. https://t.co/bNQTojCrnr pic.twitter.com/lTuVvsZMnf
— Amala Ekpunobi (@amalaekpunobi) September 18, 2026
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