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Converse Apologizes for ‘Deeply Upsetting’ Sneaker ad After Imagery Was Compared to KKK, Lynching
The ad remained on Converse’s Threads page after users said its white garment, spotlighted star and black-and-white sneakers evoked racist imagery.
- Converse apologized on Friday after social media users criticized a campaign featuring K-pop star KARINA of Aespa, alleging the imagery resembled Ku Klux Klan hoods and lynching scenes.
- Viewers noted the composition showed KARINA in a white skirt holding extra sneakers, creating shapes resembling a pointed KKK hood while shoes appeared to dangle like legs.
- The Ku Klux Klan formed roughly 160 years ago and historically used white hoods as symbols of racial terror. This year has seen 10 reported cases of Black Americans found hanging from trees.
- Converse promised to "do better," removing the photo from official channels; however, the image remained on the brand's Threads account as of Friday, September 18, 2026.
- Other major brands faced similar advertising scrutiny: Target apologized for a Halloween costume featuring Blackface imagery, and Pepsi retracted a post critics interpreted as trivializing sexual consent.
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60 Articles
60 Articles
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kim A-ram = Converse, an American shoe brand and subsidiary of Nike, faces criticism that it evokes the white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan (KKK)...
·Seoul, Korea (the Republic of)
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Converse apologizes for shoe ads that critics blasted as evoking the KKK
Converse has pulled a pair of ads and issued an apology after critics accused the sneaker brand of promoting imagery that evoked the Ku Klux Klan. The firestorm erupted around a campaign featuring Aespa singer Karina, who was shown clutching black high-top sneakers beneath a sharply defined, star-shaped spotlight while wearing a calf-length white skirt....
·New York, United States
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The IndependentReposted by 
The Independent (US)
The Independent (US)Converse pulls ad after claims it appeared to show a KKK lynching
The backlash also resurfaced a separate Converse campaign featuring sneakers hanging from a tree
·London, United Kingdom
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources60
Leaning Left16Leaning Right7Center11Last UpdatedBias Distribution47% Left
Bias Distribution
- 47% of the sources lean Left
47% Left
L 47%
C 32%
R 21%
Factuality
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