Converse apologizes for Instagram ad critics say evoked KKK imagery

An advertisement for Converse's Chuck 70 X sneaker is being scrubbed from the internet after viewers said the composition called up two of the most charged images in American racial history.

The photo, posted to Instagram on August 27, featured the K-pop performer Karina in a skirt, a pair of the sneakers held up in one hand. Within hours, commenters were pointing at a triangle of white thrown across the fabric by the lighting setup, which they read as the peaked hood of a Ku Klux Klan robe, and at the suspended shoes, which they compared to the hanging feet of a lynching victim.

Converse, a subsidiary of Nike since 2003, apologized for the ad. "We're sorry," the label said in a statement it first put out on Friday. "We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize 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."

Reached on Sunday by PBS, its Boston headquarters would not discuss how creative work is vetted internally or who cleared this particular frame for publication.

Lee Merritt, a civil rights lawyer practicing in Texas, made the vetting failure his focus in an Instagram post, writing that the apology "doesn't undo what got past legal, marketing and leadership at every step." He continued: "We keep having this conversation because corporations keep failing the same test. Do better means catching this before it airs — not after we're offended."

Karina, along with her agency SM Entertainment Group, had not replied to messages sent via Instagram at the time of reporting.

In August, Target faced similar criticism, after selling a children’s Halloween costume that resembled racist caricatures. “As a company, we know we got this wrong, and we are deeply sorry,” Target said in a statement after.