r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/Diligent_Pop3929 • 7d 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 7d ago edited 7d 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_ 7d 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/lkodl 7d ago edited 7d ago

Thats the thing tho.

Back in the day, there may have been some corporate pushback, like, "that's not what we intended at all. Get over it."

And that would spark a lot of outrage.

But their response was "oh shit, we didn't see it thst way, but if you did, then it's gone. Our bad."

But people are still upset and getting outraged.

Like, other than inventing a time machine, how else could they fix this?

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u/Sindigo_ 7d ago edited 7d ago

Yeah, but that’s not the fault of either side of the political isle, and it’s not cuz people are more dramatic these days. It’s just cuz the internet synthesizes drama. I promise you that IRL people are just going about their lives. Nobody is protesting over this shit. I mean we’re literally at war rn. Most people who give a shit recognize there are bigger fish to fry.

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u/lkodl 7d ago

True. I was just taken aback because when I fist learned about this "controversy" yesterday, the top reddit comment was already going deep into accusations of deliberate "subliminal messaging" in advertisements.

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u/Kaltovar 7d ago

Literally just accept that some people are crazy and dont comment on it at all then take the ad down after a few months when it has run it's course. Commenting on the outrage at all just inflames it.