According to a report by The Associated Press on September 21, the American sports shoe company Converse has removed a social media advertisement that sparked anger among critics. They believe the advertisement “reminds people of the Ku Klux Klan and lynching.”
It is understood that in the Instagram advertisement photo, K-pop singer Karina is wearing a dress and holding a pair of Chuck 70 X sports shoes.
Criticized advertisement original image network screenshot
Critics have viciously criticized this look online. They believe that the white triangular image created by the lighting effect on the skirt “simulates the hood of the Ku Klux Klan (an American white supremacist terrorist organization)”, and the way she holds her sneakers makes them “look like the feet of black people who have been lynched by the Ku Klux Klan”.
Critics' created comparison images, network screenshots
Chuck Taylor All Star was founded in 1908 by Marcus Mills Wootton in Massachusetts, USA. Initially, it produced rubber shoes. In 1923, it developed the iconic Chuck Taylor All Star series. In 2003, Chuck Taylor All Star was acquired by Nike, becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nike.
It is reported that the company has issued a statement of apology and stated that it has removed the advertisement.
In their apology statement, Wrangler said: "We are very sorry. We understand why this image is disturbing, and we recognize that we made a mistake. We have removed it from our channels and are working to delete it from all places where it appears. This should not have happened, and we will do better in the future."
This photo quickly sparked criticism, with some demanding the dismissal of employees involved in the advertisement and calling for boycotting the company. In a series of comments on social media, users questioned how the advertisement passed through the company’s advertising review process. Some commentators also believed that Wrangler did not do this intentionally.
Texas civil rights lawyer Lee Merritt posted on Instagram that Wrangler's apology “cannot erase the mistakes that were allowed to happen at every level—legal, marketing, and leadership.”
He wrote: “We continue to have such conversations because companies keep failing under the same challenges. Doing better means identifying problems before they are published in advertisements—not after we feel offended.”
