Converse Pulls Karina Ad After KKK Comparisons
The company removed a photo from its campaign with the Aespa member after critics compared the lighting and pose to a Ku Klux Klan hood and to a hanging, and issued a formal apology.
Converse apologized and pulled a controversial ad from its campaign with Karina, a member of the South Korean group Aespa, after critics compared the photo to a Ku Klux Klan hood and to a hanging. The company issued its statement on Friday, according to TMZ.
The photo belonged to the “Stars Align With KARINA” campaign for the Chuck 70 X sneaker line, launched on August 27, 2026. Karina is the face of the campaign and a global Converse ambassador. The disputed image first surfaced on the Converse Malaysia account, then spread further across social media from there. In the photo, Karina wears a wide white skirt and holds a pair of black sneakers positioned so they appear to hang beneath a large, pointed white cloth. The combination of lighting and posing created the impression that the black sneakers were dangling beneath something that some viewers read as a Ku Klux Klan hood.
The wave of criticism began on Threads, where users first drew comparisons between the shot and the symbolism of the racist organization, and with hanging. Actress Yvette Nicole Brown was among those who spoke up. She wrote on Threads:
“AND a Klan robe. Damn, Converse.”
Her reaction spread quickly, and the discussion soon crossed over to other platforms as well.
Converse removed the photo from all of its own channels and says it is working to take it down everywhere it appeared outside its control. In its statement, the company acknowledged the mistake and apologized. Its statement read:
“We’re sorry. 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.”
There is no indication Converse intended any reference to the Ku Klux Klan or to hanging. Even so, critics are asking how the photo made it through the company’s approval process at all, given that a global campaign of this scale typically goes through several rounds of review before release.
Karina has not commented on the photo or on the backlash it triggered. Aespa is one of the most popular K-pop groups of recent years, and Karina, as an individual ambassador, regularly fronts campaigns for major global fashion and footwear brands. The Converse partnership had been promoted as one of the company’s larger campaigns this year, precisely because of her global reach.
The episode is another example of how quickly a single ad image can spark backlash online, regardless of the company’s intent behind it. A combination of color, shape and lighting, without a single word spoken, was enough to link the shot to one of the most fraught chapters in the history of American race relations. Converse has not said whether the Karina campaign will continue with revised material or be shut down entirely, nor whether it will issue a further statement once the photo has been removed from every platform where it appeared.
As of publication, neither Converse nor Karina’s team had responded to additional questions about who approved the photo before release, or whether anyone inside the company will be held responsible for the lapse in the campaign’s approval process.
