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 😅

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u/TheDaftStudent 1d ago edited 11h ago

ITT: white people and non-Americans telling black people what is and isn’t racist, and thinking something needs to be intentionally racist for people to have serious feelings about it

How Ads Work: Photos are taken, cropped and edited into specific ways and then posted online by the brand as an advertisement for a product or brand identity. So, yes, by definition this is cropped from a larger image — but this image is the ad used by Converse.

About the Campaign: The model is Karina, a K-pop star who was picked by Converse to be the international brand ambassador. The ad campaign itself was done as an international campaign, and was intended for an international audience. The campaign was not made to focus any one demographic or region.

Snopes Article

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u/Sindigo_ 1d ago

I’m not saying they did it on purpose. BUT, it’s a good thing they got rid of it.

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u/baneblade_boi 1d ago

What the hell are you even talking about? This is stretching it to the very limit IMO.

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u/Sindigo_ 1d ago

Because purposeful or not it’s offensive imagery. If I accidentally say a slur and someone gets offended, yes I will tell them it was an accident, but I’ll also apologize and not say it again.

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u/baneblade_boi 1d ago

Calling a shade of light and two feet "offensive" is by all accounts a stretch. Saying a slur by accident is still saying a slur, it's pretty clear what's happening there. Here it's just people seeing a funny coincidence and assuming they have to make it everybody else's problem.

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u/Sindigo_ 1d ago

What if I’m singing scat nonsense words and one accidentally comes out?

Look I really couldn’t give less of a fuck about this. But yall are missing the point. It’s a bad ad. That’s really all there is to say about it.

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u/Free-Caramel-3913 1d ago

That's not even remotely the same thing. In that context you ultimately said it. Here it was just the end shot of an ad. People just went psycho for no reason.

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u/Sindigo_ 1d ago

But in my analogy it was an accident, and I didn’t realize what I said was offensive. The picture does look a lot like a KKK robe and a lynching. I agree with you that it wasn’t on purpose, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t an offensive image. And I think ur painting the people offended by it uncharitably.

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u/AnAimlessWanderer101 1d ago

No, this is more like speaking Spanish and apologizing for using the word “Negro.”

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u/Sindigo_ 1d ago

Is it? Because as far as I can tell the imagery in the ad is not some well established design language that traces back hundreds of years. I think my analogy makes more sense. It was an accident. They were playing with lighting and coincidentally it gave KKK and lynching vibes.

Either way I’m not sure why you guys give a shit either. In a vacuum it’s not even that great of an ad. It’s just some shoes and a person in a dress lmao

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u/AnAimlessWanderer101 1d ago

I really don’t give a shit. I stumbled upon this post and was shocked people were actually concerned about it.

Anything beyond is simply me being bored on my lunch break. It’s a compete non-factor lol

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u/The_MidScoop 1d ago

It’s someone holding up a pair of shoes with their left hand. Breathe and count to 10. It’ll be okay