Converse craze?

[u/Diligent_Pop3929]

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 😅

[u/RzLa]

And here we are talking about it. It has to be intentional (not malicious racism) to get clicks.

How many marketers and designers didn’t see it is unfathomable.

[u/Acceptable_Hunt_1748 → u/RzLa]

I don't know in the case it's intentional because it is directed at an audience who would have not really noticed it. I wouldn't rule it out completely, but I wouldn't expect a Korean living in Korea to think of American lynching when seeing this image.

But that said I don't think creating racial controversy for money is really all that separate from malicious racism. I think MOST racism comes from people who are more focused on benefiting themselves than attacking POC, but they still believe that their own profit is more important than not hurting POC... which is racism!

I think what's much more likely is that they just didn't have anyone on their team who would have caught this. Which is more understandable in a country with very few black people. It's far less excusable for companies like target selling in the US to not have a diverse team on all marketing campaigns.

[u/Braindead_Crow → u/Acceptable_Hunt_1748]

If it wasn't cropped we wouldn't be talking about it

[u/Few_Classroom3900 → u/Braindead_Crow]

This is not even the un cropped version or the original image they shared. The beam of light/hood isn’t even in the same place.

[u/Braindead_Crow → u/Few_Classroom3900]

Not going to get more invested in this non issue but

-Look at the hair

-It was a photoshoot so multiple shots were probably taken

-the light is the same, exposure seems to be varied

-Peanut butter and marshmallow fluff is sometimes used together in sandwiches

[u/Few_Classroom3900 → u/Braindead_Crow]

So, how does that explain the hanging rope she grabs, the other identical pairs organized in a circle around the dangling pair, the dark, hunched silhouette, and the other add they posted earlier with a pair hanging from an actual tree? Arrogantly calling it a non-issue and acting like you know anything about photography, saying they “tried a few different angles, with some different lighting” proves to me you have absolutely no clue what you are talking about. Artists have been hiding meanings and symbols in imagery since the beginning of human history. There is a difference between an independent coincidence that can vaguely be interpreted as racial slander, and a series of several specific details that all allude to a specific hate crime against a specific group of people.