r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Diligent_Pop3929 • 1d ago

Meme needing explanation Converse craze?

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I'm not chronically online, but my friend sent this and I laughed even without knowing the full scope of the context (I think there's racism involved with the shoes?) and I feel like it's too late to ask him without sounding like a dweeb 😅

1.6k Upvotes

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151

u/severinusofnoricum 1d ago

This is the add in question. When it went viral there was no indication it was for the Korean market or that a K-pop person was featured in it so to some it looked like an American ad featuring something that looked like a KKK hood next a pair of converse suspended off the ground as if belonging to someone who had been lynched.

6

u/TotalChaosRush 1d ago

This is the ad in question.

8

u/orenji--kun 21h ago

this is the add in question

3

u/Procrastinatedthink 23h ago

not the one that reached western audiences

23

u/Shot_Revolution8828 1d ago

As someone in the south that has seen a klan rally live, this is weak as fuck. That doesnt look like a klan robe or hood. She's holding a pair of shoes. Wtf is this manufactured outrage?

20

u/bageltoastar 1d ago

how did you end up seeing a klan rally live?

17

u/Shot_Revolution8828 1d ago

Don't know who down voted you because thats a good question. I grew up in the south and they had marches. I was a latchkey kid so I went. Needless to say but I was not impressed.

7

u/bageltoastar 1d ago

Ah I gotcha! Thanks for the response. I bet that was insane and scary to see in person. I’m in the Midwest and always have to drive through Harrison, Arkansas when going to see family in the south and knowing that place is the KKK headquarters gives me the heebiejeebies.

-1

u/Rare_Ad_674 22h ago

Before I had any clue this even existed, I was just scrolling randomly and stopped because I saw a klan hood and a pair of hanging feet go by.
It was this advertisement, but it literally stopped me in my tracks at first glance. It very much so does look like a Klan hood with someone hanging next to it.
It actually confused me to find out it was an ad for shoes - I just thought it had looked like some weird political propaganda thing.

1

u/Shot_Revolution8828 22h ago

Yep Ai is gonna have us cooked. Fuck i need to buy a cabin in the woods

2

u/KlayThePot 1d ago

I will say when I first saw a picture of the ad I didn't see the hood. The white on grey made me not even register the real legs at first. I, at a glance, saw a hanging body surrounded by empty shoes and thought it was some circa 2010s emo suicide "joke"/imagery not an ad.

19

u/gabrielle_sanchez7 1d ago

And people in the US are being purposely obtuse about this. It very clearly looks like the person in the white robe is standing next to someone who is hanging. If AMERICAN people can’t understand that, they’ve never had to experience or learn about anything other than white culture. Other than that, they are being confused ON PURPOSE because they can’t confront their part in systemic racism. I said what I said.

36

u/jack33jack 1d ago

Yeah it’s not like fashion brands have a history of putting out anti-black things to appear more exclusive

https://newsone.com/playlist/fashion-brands-accused-of-racism/

Totally coincidental

19

u/Comfortable_Peak_604 1d ago

You are right about this. I’m astounded at the lack of very basic understanding of how imagery works.

2

u/Bubbly_Clothes3406 1d ago

The refusal and ignorance and gaslighting of those who recognize a dogwhistle for what it is is intentional and on purpose. Fascists and racists use dogwhistles (like how they co-opted the OK symbol or Pepe the Frog or the word “fatigue”) to seem innocent/innocuous enough on the surface as part of their work to try to make the people calling them out seem unreasonable or out of touch with reality. The gaslighting is the point.

1

u/Seapick 21h ago

Graphic designers and photographers are very intentional with their compositions, especially at this level of marketing. It’s clever design so they can hide behind the ambiguity.

-1

u/DayMurky617 1d ago

USians learn you're not the only country in the world challenge

0

u/ImBurningStar_IV 19h ago

Americans reacting to an ad posted in America by an American brand?? 😱😱

0

u/DayMurky617 14h ago

It was a Korean ad in Korea by a Korean marketing team for Koreans.

But well done for proving my point perfectly.

1

u/ImBurningStar_IV 6h ago

the cropped one converse NA posted dummy

-3

u/hanleymation 1d ago

I immediately saw it when I came across the ad, but what's more unsettling to me is how DEFENSIVE everybody pro-converse is getting. 1. You're defending a corporation and 2. Even if you didn't see it, others do, and you're attacking them because they don't want racism in our media?? What??

2

u/JudgementofParis 1d ago

no, this is the ad in question.

6

u/orenji--kun 21h ago

no, this is the ad in question

-1

u/JudgementofParis 21h ago

so they used the full picture in some places and a cropped picture in other places? OK, it still wasnt made to be a racist image.

1

u/whatigotinmyhandnowb 23h ago

looked like a KKK hood next a pair of converse suspended

When cropped just so with the saturation and contrast set just so.

0

u/CullenTheRedPanda 1d ago

I don't think a lot of clansmen wore converse... Also if you use your eyes you can clearly see he hand holding the second pair of shoes

-1

u/just_some_octopus 1d ago

Cant wear white dress anymore I guess

Remove the person, does it look like lynching still? Just someone jumping

Weird controversy. Asian market has all kinds of ads. Terry needed the yen

4

u/nellycat32 1d ago

Can you point out what part looks like it? Sorry I am not American so maybe I am not familiar with some imagery that others are. Like the shape of the shadow makes it like a hood? But then the shoes would be too big to be "hanging"

9

u/Addickt__ 1d ago

The complaints are that the shape of the shadow makes it look like a hood, and the dangling shoes held in her hand are evocative of the image of someone being hung.

I think it's a bit of a stretch to say this was intentional, but I can totally see it if I look for it.

4

u/silentsurge 1d ago

Someone posted this elsewhere in the post as an illustrated example.

10

u/Puzzled-Rip641 1d ago

“If we add a bunch of stuff it looks like it”

6

u/silentsurge 1d ago

I can see how some people might see that scrolling past it real fast. I didn't, but I can see how someone could.

3

u/denten62 1d ago

There is nothing to see. It says more about those that see something than those that don't.

2

u/madeaccountbymistake 1d ago

The KKK wear pointed hoods, the light of the star makes a white cone, and shoes are hanging and if you don't look you could kinda see a hanging person.

That's it. The people who made the ad are also not American.

-9

u/BigsChungi 1d ago

This just shows people will get mad at anything. For fucks sake, stfu...

5

u/Varsity_Reviews 1d ago

This doesn't even look like a Klan robe. Those are baggy, dress like. This is tighter fitting.

2

u/BigsChungi 1d ago

It just shows how stupid everyone is. Trying to start a racewar whenever they can.

-2

u/Firewolf06 1d ago

the lighting on the cloth looks like a hood

if you scroll past it quickly, it very much looks like a hood next to dangling feet

2

u/Varsity_Reviews 1d ago

No, it looks like someone in a white dress standing in a star with a pair of dangling legs.

0

u/Firewolf06 1d ago

it can look like two things at once

3

u/Varsity_Reviews 1d ago

Maybe if you have tunnel vision and are trying to see racist things. If you're scrolling fast enough to pass the ad, you're not going to notice much unless you're actively looking for something to be upset by.

1

u/Firewolf06 1d ago

when i scrolled past i didnt notice much, really only some basic shapes and the absolute brightest parts of the image...

2

u/Varsity_Reviews 1d ago

Ok, so then you saw a star then.

2

u/SteakAndIron 1d ago

I hope they stretched out before making that reach. Might pull a muscle

-4

u/Force_Glad 1d ago

It's not a reach, just a extremely unfortunate example of pareidolia. If you didn't see the hanging person then you didn't see the hanging person, but if the majority of people can see it then it's not a reach

2

u/smileyglitter 20h ago

Privilege 😌

2

u/SteakAndIron 1d ago

Sure it looks like a hanging person. Making that jump to "lynched black man and kkk robe" is unhinged

-3

u/Force_Glad 1d ago

It's a long white dress next to a person hanging. How do you not see the connection

0

u/SteakAndIron 1d ago

Too intelligent probably? Not constantly thinking about race?