Nike-owned Converse has pulled a sneaker ad after critics said its imagery evoked lynch mobs and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a US white supremacist group.
The campaign featured K-pop singer Karina of the girl group Aespa dressed in a long white skirt and holding a pair of black high-top sneakers beneath a spotlight. Critics said the lighting made her outfit resemble a KKK hood, while the dangling shoes evoked the feet of a lynching victim.
“Nike and Converse, what the hell were you thinking?” Democratic Congressman Troy Carter said in a statement on Friday. He described the campaign as “racist, reckless and deeply offensive.”
Converse apologized on Saturday, saying it understood why the image was “deeply upsetting” and acknowledging that it had “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,” the company said.
I'm late to this. Apparently, a new Converse sneaker ad/commercial featuring K-Pop star Karina was deemed "racist" because it reminded black people of the KKK and lynching. I genuinely thought it was a joke, but it's not a joke. Converse has pulled the ad and apologized 😬 pic.twitter.com/VXNacxUbad
Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt argued that removing the ad did not address how it had been approved in the first place.
The apology “doesn’t undo what got past legal, marketing and leadership at every step,” he wrote on Instagram. “Do better means catching this before it airs – not after we’re offended.”
#Converse under fire for allegedly including KKK imagery in new ad starring Karina of aespa. pic.twitter.com/jmxlIV6hlJ
Converse CEO Aaron Cain has since told employees that the company is reviewing the internal processes that allowed the campaign to be published. According to a memo seen by Bloomberg, Cain said that “the leadership team and I are taking a hard look at our internal review process and the critical lens we apply to our work” and pledged to “make needed changes.”
Founded after the US Civil War, the KKK became notorious for terrorizing racial and ethnic minorities, primarily blacks, through murder and various forms of intimidation. Membership peaked at an estimated 4 to 5 million people nationwide during the mid-1920s, at a time when only 10-11 million Americans were black.
The criticism also resurfaced a separate Converse campaign with the Danish brand Palmes released last week, which showed models climbing a ladder toward sneakers hanging from a tree branch. Some social media users said the imagery also evoked a lynching.
Nike and its subsidiaries have faced criticism over advertising before. In April 2025, the company apologized for a London Marathon billboard reading “NEVER AGAIN. UNTIL NEXT YEAR” after critics linked the phrase to Holocaust remembrance. Nike said it had intended to reference runners vowing not to compete again before eventually returning.
In April this year, the sportswear giant drew fresh criticism over a Boston Marathon ad declaring: “Runners welcome. Walkers tolerated.”
The controversies come as Converse parent Nike is struggling to reverse a prolonged decline in its business and share price. The sportswear giant has lost more than $200 billion in market value since its shares peaked in 2021, as it has faced increased competition, weaker demand in China and criticism over a lack of product innovation.
Nike, which has owned Converse since 2003, is also set to leave the S&P 100 index after nearly 18 years, although it will remain part of the broader S&P 500.
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