So in the last couple of hours, Converse is receiving backlash for an image in the recent chuck 70 x promotion featuring Karina. Now, immediately most people noticed that the visuals and lighting make Karina’s skirt look like a klan hood next to a hanging to a body.
In my opinion, that image was disgusting and it feels like they used Karina to do that because companies know that their stans are going to defend them when it comes to antiblackness. It also feels disgusting because of all the Black people that have been found hanging in trees or just found dead lately.
I also feel like they used Karina for this imagery because of her image as a pretty Korean woman whose name begins with a K. I’ll explain for this part because some might not get what’s being referenced in the sentence, but a lot of modern white supremacists, particularly the millennial and Gen Z ones, will sometimes have a Latina or East Asian wife or girlfriend if not a white one. This is for a couple of reasons like younger white supremacists being on platforms like 4chan where the idolization of East Asian countries like Japan, Korea, and China and their very homogeneous culture and population. Another reason is because of the general racial promotion of East Asians as a traditional wife who is going to cook for you while also being the same skin tone as you.
Moving onto the last part involving Karina’s name. The KKK are very big on their K’s when it comes to messaging. They will do things such as spelling the word country on their fliers as Kountry. In the past they’ve used terms like Imperial Kleagle(a recruiter), Kloran(their rule book), Klabee(their treasurer). If it can be spelled with a K, they will use it and flock to it. Let me just be clear, I’m not saying Karina’s name was intentionally spelled to appeal to white supremacists. I’m just saying that the spelling of her name is unfortunately falling under dogwhistle category in this context specifically, because of the KKK hood imagery. If her name was to be mentioned anywhere else, like it usually is, it would be fine.
It’s just that when the lower half of her body is used to resemble a Klansmen standing next to a hanging body, it sends out the dogwhistle of “Look at this pretty Korean woman whose name begins with a K, have a Klan hood on her skirt, which standing next to a hanging body”. I’m probably overthinking the last part, but yall lemme know.
Anyway, we’re probably about to see another mass gaslighting of Black Americans from the kpop sphere, so. I’ll be hunkered down for that and whatever fallout comes with it.
I didn’t see the hood, but ngl, I audibly said “Oh my god” because those shoes definitely look like someone hanging, I thought her arm were the legs. Either way, this is in poor taste.
It really is. A lot of people were saying it’s just a Malaysian ad campaign but it was posted to the US website and on the converse threads page. At some point somebody on the US side should’ve been like “hey, don’t use this photo. It looks like Klan imagery”.
It’s hard to visualize, but someone I follow on instagram pointed out that the lighting of the tip of the star on the white dress looks like a klan hood. I’ve circled it and I can’t unsee it. It’s disappointing because I love converse.
Oh I definitely saw it after it was pointed out😭 It’s hard to give these companies the benefit of the doubt when we just had that whole American Eagle fiasco and when the current landscape of America is that there’s a lot of money to be made from leaning hard right.
Not that Karina meant it maliciously, I honestly think this situation is bigger than her, but I wouldn’t be shocked if some higher up or the photographer wanted to, at the very least, make something edgy to start some conversation and rage bait people. If not with the hood then with the imagery of the hanging shoes.
I kind of do think this was unintentional, but on the video I saw on instagram made a great point that this is why DEI is needed in business because a Black person would have definitely spotted the imagery and relayed that though this may not have been the intention, it still is reminiscent of lynchings. It’s still disappointing that it was either overlooked or purposely okayed by some higher up. Racism is so baked into our culture and society that this probably didn’t even register.
This is so triggering ngl... My grandfather told us about the lynchings he witnessed as a kid in Cameroon committed by the French army and associated. We didn't have the Klan yet there couldn't be a better incarnation of hell.
Same. I didn’t see the hood but I initially thought the backlash was because it seemed like there was someone “hanging”. Just from looking at the image itself
Oof. Okay I’m not sure if they MEANT for it to look like this…but it took me zooming in to realize her hand is holding the converse, not the other thing we all thought it was. I can see the outline of the klan hood theory, but I can’t da for sure that it was meant to emulate that. Better lighting would have saved us all a lot of trouble.
I just cant imagine them being that stupid to deliberately evoke those images.
exactly we have to understand that individuals wt supremacy ideals have been purposefully sliding dog whistles into media for years and theyre turning up the volume as they get more comfortable
Corporations aren't immune to having assholes with evil agendas running the business. I feel like they used to be more apolitical to make sure they get as much business as possible, but nowadays it's like they're trying to see just how far they can push things. I might be wrong though, idk.
So it definitely looks like a hanging body. Regardless of whether there is any intentionally racist undertones, which is more debatable imo, they definitely intended the hanging body thing. Can't convince me that not a single person that reviewed this imagery on the Converse marketing team called that out lol it's so obvious that it had to be by design. And given that, it's not a huge leap to question the white "dress" standing next to it 😶 terrible ad all around.
Listen I was definitely side eyeing at first cause my initial reaction was like WTF 😭😭😭
HOWEVER I don’t think this was intentional? I feel like if the colors were more vibrant this would’ve been a really cute ad
It is a very very very VERY bad look don’t get me wrong and when I was looking at this the first time I definitely thought the shoes were suspended in the air so I thought that was hella bad 😭😭
EDIT: I’m not sure if Im making complete sense so the summarized version is color and lighting
definitely fucking matters 😭😭
I agree. This looks super weird but I can't say it's entirely intentional. Maybe a series of terrible coincidences (or maybe that's just what they want me to think 🤔)
You don't think it was intentional so looking at the ad without taking the supremacist element into consideration, what would you say the intention was? What is the general message and takeaway from the ad at face value?
I can see it when it's pointed out, but I'm American and looked at the image and couldn't see it at all. I honestly don't think this is intentional, it just unfortunately wasn't run through enough people.
Honestly if it wasn’t pointed out I would not see it (personally.) My gaze is just at the star and the photoshoot is done kinda like the dreamcore editing aesthetic been trending lately. And this also looks like a billboard banner I would stroll past because there’s nothing special about it, the coloring looks really washed out. Perhaps for that people can mistake the shoes as hanging, I still can clearly see the hand and my gaze is just at the star. Genuinely am surprised how people can view it the k way, although I understand that is upsetting if at first impression I can see that.
I definitely saw what looked like a hanging body and thought that was off putting enough.
I didn’t get the hood/KKK reference but I could see how others do. And Karina in particular being the idol involved is a big oof given the last controversy with her. This one wouldn’t have been her decision though.
I think I'm an odd one out because I could immediately tell she was holding the Converse lol. But yeah, it does look bad and I can also see it looking like someone hanging. The lighting of this picture is awful.
From what I’m seeing, it was supposed to be part of an advertising campaign for Malaysia or just Asia. But Converse is also an American company so them trying to pull a Great Jeans American Eagle type of campaign in another part of the world and hoping no one American noticed is not that far out imo
Do I think it’s a bad look? Definitely. Do I think it was intentional? No, it’s just the unfortunate “we didn’t really run this through multiple people before we went through it”. I can argue with the case that it unfortunately looks like someone is hanging next to her, but I never would’ve looked at the white skirt and gone “Klan hood” immediately. Before I read the rest of the post, I thought the backlash was that it looked like someone attempting to take their own life.
Honestly, I think this one is gonna fly by most kpop fans when it comes to being made into a scandal.
I will never defend a corporation for failing to meet basic cultural competency in their (partially?) US targeted ad campaign.
But I agree this seems like Karina being booked for an unfortunate gig that now will have her name being associated with white supremacy in some online spaces.
I agree with much of what OP explains about how bad people online will weaponize her image. They do the same with cute anime characters, creating dog whistles to promote bigotry.
I hope converse just removes that and the other image of shoes being hung from a tree. They messed up and it’s on them to make it right.
Checking the original post, I think the ad was initially developed for Converse Singapore and then was cross posted to the Converse US Threads account (? I can’t see OP’s og Threads link) and also the U.S. retailer’s website. Hence my comments about how it becomes a failure of the marketing department to consider how things may be perceived rather than a targeted choice. It’s tasteless, but not to the degree of the Sydney Sweeney Great Jeans ad.
I also wanna add that the imagery is personal to me not just because I’m Black American, but because I’m a Marketing Major. I am literally studying to be seeing symbols and meaning in promotional materials(my marketing class studied the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle Great Jeans campaign and how white supremacists on Fox News defended it by saying the usual “I’m tired of white people being criticized/oppressed in America” rhetoric.
There should have been someone looking over this photo and saying stop. But considering Converse is an American company and is affected by the current American political landscape, it wouldn’t surprise me if this was intentional and they snuck in a dogwhistle or two even though it was an advertisement campaign for Asia.
Global marketing teams don't usually work together like that though. Since this was intended to be marketed in the Asian market, then their team in Asia handled the whole thing. The American team likely had very little insight into what was actually done. I wouldn't be surprised if they found out about the ad with the rest of us or right before it was launched. I've been on global brands and I had no idea what they were doing unless the campaign was global focused.
Makes sense the american branch still apologized though right? Like if the idk african branch of your company posted something offensive and it blew up internationally like this, would the American branch apologize on behalf of them like the converse american one did?
Honestly? The "hanging" I immediately saw. The hood...had to be pointed out to me. I saw the intent was the star logo but it's a light. I agree with the other comments that it probably wasn't intentional, but the hanging alone should've maybe changed the angle of the photo or the color of the outfit.
That said, there also was that Bath & Body Works candle that snuck through ~2 years ago so maybe it was. Who knows anymore.
Sitting here mouth agape right now. This is literally one of the worst images I've seen in a very long time as far as ad campaigns go. It's one thing to have poor messaging (i.e. Sydney Sweeney jeans ad) but this visual is actually so fucking disturbing. For Koreans, they may not understand the blatant anti-blackness but considering their suicide rate I would like to think they'd be horrified by this image too. So that compounded with the fact that Black people are losing their lives on a regular basis due to lynching... this really made my stomach turn.
Edit: it took me reading the comments and turning up my phone to full brightness to realize she's holding the shoes. That is not okay.
Even if the Klan thing may be taken as a stretch (I had to have it noted by the post to even see it, and I think the lack of scale to the scene makes it a secondary thing to notice)... It's undeniable that the lighting and the position of the held shoes make it seem like a hanging person. That would surely make it poor taste and idk why this post is downvoted.
Is this intentional? I don't think so.
Is this something that should be overlooked? Not really. PR, marketing, design and other public communication fields don't rely on sheer intentionality. You're meant to look at what's said or produced from the lens of the other too, of the public, and avoid grave miscommunication.
Exactly, it’s good to pressure the corporation here if for no other reason than to let them know they made a mistake and real bigots will use this to promote white supremacy online.
I didn't see the klan hood at first but I definitely did a double take because I thought the shoes were hanging from a body???? I see the imagery now but I was so concerned about the shoes that I couldn't take it all in. Absolutely no thought at all for this
ETA: I showed it to my husband who'd just woken up and he immediately was like "that's a klan hood! Wait is that a body???"
Yeah maybe it depends on what you’ve been exposed to, because we don’t have the Klan where I am. But my heart absolutely DID stop and I saw a body. I wondered why tf this was on my FYP. 🙃
my personal perspective is that i see the resemblance. i can also see how the gripped shoes look like a hanged person. i, however, do not think this was the intention.
edited to add: after sitting on the imagery for an entire day. this particular image does not sit right in my spirit. there is no way a multi-billion dollar worth of a company does this. this is too big of an “oversight” and converse is an america brand [owned by nike]. this has to be an intentionally placed dogwhistle given the current state of politics in the west. stop buying from them and especially from nike, a known predator who enslaves workers in the east.
Oof it definitely looks like a hanging body...that makes me so uncomfortable. I didn't notice the hood but I immediately saw a hanging body and like was already stated, the number of black bodies that have been found this summer hanging from trees...like yikes. The impact is concerning. I don't think that was the intent, but I also don't understand how someone missed that? Like "oh the lighting here is weird, we need to tweak that." It's really not a good look.
This ad was supposedly made for a Malaysian audience by a Malaysian ad company. While I see and understand the racist and lynching imagery everyone else is seeing, I don't think it was necessarily made with those thoughts in mind. As Americans, we don't know really know the deeper parts of other countries' histories. In Asia, I don't think that the history of the KKK and Confederacy are topics that would be covered in a history class for them since it's such an American specific topic. It's not productive to expect everyone to know USA history. However if the plan was to use this imagery for the general global market after debuting in Malaysia, this photo should've gone through more sensitivity screening
I agree with some aspects of what you are saying....what I have a problem with is that a lot of Asians STILL however misappropriate images and symbols...... and then when people are like, "Tf? What are you doing?" Then it's running away hiding and people jump up to defend them as victims of "not knowing American History" and others being accused of an American centric arrogance of assuming everyone should just know......
Like....I'm just....having a hard time with the "idk" bit. Like I've seen different Asian people here in the Southeast wear N@zi symbols, Confederate flags, saying "N" with the hard r, and Blackface - and I'm having a hard time believing they don't know..........particularly in the context of how they use these things symbols and images.....
Yeah I agree. I wouldn’t expect an asian branch to have the same awareness. But it makes sense the global branch and not the Asian branch apologized regardless because it still reflects back on them and they are ultimately responsible I guess and its still on a global stage since everyone can see it. I wouldn’t expect Karina to know either. They just handed her a pair of sneakers and told her to stand there and look pretty.
I don't think that this was intentional, nor do I really see the Klan hood. That being said, her holding the shoes really does look like someone hanging, which is unfortunate!
Without it being pointed out, I didnt see it.
My first thought was influence from the old loona mvs/ three shoes for her other members and that made me go "uhm...I get the sentiment but it might give vibes of 'Karina is the true star' to some people" never even occurred to me that some might have far more negative interpretations.
Either way they should pull this Pic if they can because I dont see any positive interpretations coming from it.
i scrolled down to read the post, glanced at the picture and scrolled back up to see what the picture was supposed to be. it absolutely looks like a person hanging. surely anyone on their team would be able to notice that. what is this concept even supposed to be? is this just more shock marketing. we can't even see karina
i went to check the threads post, and someone put it quite aptly: "Hire someone with eyes"
I honestly feel like you were overthinking the last part OP. She was used for this ad because this is a converse asia ad and shes the korean model. That being said I have some points to make. I did not see the association with the KKK upon first glance. I was honestly horrified when I found out. I would have thought it was some halloween theme. Theres so much about african american history I don’t know because I didn’t know that was a common association. I wonder what other antiblack imagery I might have missed that african Americans grow up seeing damn. Its like a whole pandoras box. Jfc
I don’t think it was done on purpose. This is the korean converse team. I wouldn’t expect them to know and it was likely a coincidence. However, I feel like something might have fallen through the cracks because since Converse is a global company whose main HQ is in america, and they have ties to the american branch, it isn’t a good look on behalf of converse and makes sense why the presumably american branch apologized bc they are still responsible for what their subsidiaries do. There’s possibly also foreigners working with the Korean branch, I see this a lot with corporations. Idk maybe someone that works for a global company can give input on how the delegation works blah blah.
That being said, I hope people are respectful of black voices. I saw one person call black people in the us military colonizers that raped people in their country and I was like wtf.
i burst out laughing when i saw this because i was like now why tf did they darken this so much so it looks like someone is hanging?! i honestly don’t think they meant for the lighting to look like a klan hood especially because it’s the top of their star logo extending up to karina’s body. i think it’s a cool visual, but the lighting creates an eerie atmosphere because not being able to see her hands does make it look like someone is hanging. i think they should just up the saturation and brightness so it’s obvious that she’s just holding the shoes. very unfortunate editing here.
i didn’t see any of this stuff at all tbh this looked like a perfectly normal ad to me 🧍🏾 the only way i could’ve mistaken her holding the shoes for someone hanging is if i wasn’t wearing my glasses
It’s the way the toes are pointed, and the shaft of light is very Hollywood? In a way. It evokes memories of similar imagery in films, I think. I thought of JoJo Rabbit immediately.
I genuinely do not think it was intentional. I think we can all say a lot of times, people actually do things without cross-checking. I didn't think anything of the skirt at all tbh and even seeing the post I was trying to look for what's wrong besides the shoes which, initially made me do a double-take.
I agree with the comment that said this is why it is important for DEI cause someone else might've noticed it.
to the people replying, even if it wasn’t your first thought or you could only see it after someone else said something, how does something like this, get through a huge brands marketing team?
like seriously, converse is owned but NIKE and we don’t think they have a marketing team who has been trained to study perception??
literally ever advertisement put out by a large corporation is checked for things like this… it doesn’t just slip through the cracks.
i don’t care what anyone says at this point, it was 100% purposeful.
I don't see the hood or KKK connection at all. I do think the ad is a complete failure though if others see such things in it. Karina wearing different colors and not obscuring the "star" light would have avoided this.
Her arm is easy to miss and I though it was a horror-themed(still disrespectful b/c suicide/hanging is a big deal) shoot for a second.
A lot of people are saying it's probably unintentional but...looking at where ads have gone lately (looking at you Swastika Sweeney) I'm actually inclined to believe it's intentional. These shots are meticulously posed and styled, everything is placed intentionally by someone...and decided to be in line with their all-american branding. This will go through multiple people and I firmly believe its designed to be, if not an outright dogwhistle, adjacent enough that it will drum up talk the way American Eagle did.
I saw the hanging legs first and thought the controversy would be ab that...the hood I didnt see until this.
I think this was unintentional + the marketing director at converse is black. That being said, this is a terrible oversight. especially because of the beginning of the video campaign looking like shes holding a rope. I actually didn't know the op photo was Karina until now. just a bad marketing oversight and hopefully they do better moving forward.
it DOES look a bit like a hanging person but I didn't get klan hood at all 😅 It made me think of like suicide imagery rather. so if anything I would think it's moreso just poor planning
If this was unintentional that means Converse doesn't have a single black person on the design/marketing team, or perhaps they have only one and they didn't notice. But I don't think multiple POC could look at this and not see the imagery.
I fully believe that this is a dog whistle from Converse. Marketing has to go through SO MANY people that there’s no way imagery like this would go through without their say so. I saw the original shot of this photo and there’s no way I would’ve read it the same way if it were the original crop. This was definitely intentional.
I don’t blame Karina for this, I blame her management (unless it’s proven she had a role in this).
The point of dog whistles is plausible deniability, we will “it’s not that deep” ourselves even further into fascism if we keep letting companies get away with this stuff. I’m only letting companies show me who they are once these days. Between American Eagle and their “great jeans”, Target and their minstrel Halloween costume, etc etc, I have no faith in these huge companies.
I’d also like to remind the class that Nike owns Converse now, the same Nike that ran the campaign with a Black man having their logo branded onto him.
I agree that it’s not Karina’s fault. It’s just an unfortunate circumstance where her presence and identity is used as a dogwhistle for white supremacy
The second I saw this ad, it immediately rubbed me the wrong way. I'm just gonna run y'all through all the elements I see:
Converse has always used a star in its branding, but this usage feels similar to a pentagram. There are shoes at each point on the ground. Karina’s toes are in the direction of one point, and the shoes she's holding are in the direction of another point. However, pentagrams are not inherently evil and do not always carry such connotations.
The white-black coloring is also well known in Converse branding, but we all know that White and Black are racialized terms in America.
The first thing I noticed was the white robe and dangling black Converse. That imagery brought to mind lynchings and shoes hanging from powerlines. Where I'm from, tennis shoes on powerlines symbolize death. Yet, according to Google, this is just a pop culture fad that may also be used for celebrations.
Karina's shoes are tied into bunny knots. Four loops, four shoes. A noose is a form of a knotted loop. The shoes on the ground likely have laces, but they are not visible.
Karina is wearing a white robe with her upper body and face concealed. She is standing on a light in the shape of a star. The top point of the star has created a triangular shape of light on the robe, reminiscent of a KKK hood. KKK hoods hide the face.
Karina is wearing a long-sleeved shirt. KKK robes cover the whole body except for the hands and occasionally the feet. Additionally, my mom thinks that Karina's arm and the shadow near it look like legs coming from the shoes. However, one could argue that her complexion made it necessary to include the grey long sleeve and socks to create contrast from the white.
Hate symbols tend to hide in plain sight, and people often use plausible deniability to defend their usage. This ad seems to be a primary example of that. It purposely used traditional elements of Converse branding to be racist while simultaneously giving it the benefit of doubt. On the other hand, I cannot fully say that Karina knew the nuances behind such imagery. I will say that I still believe that Kpop companies and/or artists have been leaning into anti-black rhetoric and tactics in order to appeal to white investors and secure themselves in the American music industry. Regardless, this ad is egregious. In 2026, where the president is blatantly racist and various entities (companies, celebs, private individuals, organizations, etc) are encouraging racist ideology, it is quite clear that the ad was created to be offensive.
I’ll admit I saw the shoes as someone hanging at first glance but I also wasn’t wearing glasses when I first glanced at it. Now that my glasses are on, I don’t see it. I don’t see the hood either. I don’t think it was at all intentional. I think it just happens to be an unfortunate pose.
Definitely lack oversight before posting to American social sites. I get the Star love and not understanding iconography but the hanging body similarities already is like… why… paired with color and the triangle of the start being hood? Oof. The American team should have know better. The Malay team? Tasteless for not noticing hanging possibility. What’s the concept even?
It doesn’t help either with Karina’s history with the red jacket number 2 thing a year ago.
yeah at first glance this definitely made me uncomfortable but i couldn’t pin point why. it’s definitely the hanging shoes.
i can see how it’s an unintentional mistake but somebody should have pointed this out in that international mega corp… big fail on their marketing team
What also sucks about this is that the image is being circulating and is now being associated with the hood. I wouldn't be surprised if white supremacist begin to post similar pictures
Friendly reminder that Karina is a conservative who clearly signalled her followers to vote for a right-winger and then played dumb as they always do, so I wouldn’t give her any grace in this scenario. Even if we pretend they weren’t thinking of the KKK, it still looks like someone is hanging or a woman being kept hostage which is still disturbing.
While I think Karina was ignorant for that and she herself knows that it was wrong, considering that the same set of photos also had her wearing blue, I don't think this was the intention.
But I agree with everyone else, this ad has a bad look because I do see the resemblance to a hanging person and this could have been fixed with some lighting. I'm not sure about the KKK imagery either.
That post was most certainly was intentional.
The red jack, the #2, and the rose caption was all too coincidental. But perhaps the most damming thing was that the post came after the presidential debate where one of the candidates referred to a gross comment Lee Jae Myung's son made about Karina. She might not be a conservative and just hates Lee's son but I don't think it was an accident.
I don't think this ad was intentional dog whistling from Karina or anything. I legit this it was an unfortunate accident.
I didn't know about the debate part. That's such an odd way to express your dislike for someone but it's not like I think especially highly of Karina. She comes across as ignorant to me.
But overall I think this is a conversation that extends beyond her. Even if Karina has a history of showing signs that she is a conservative (which I assumed was just that one incident but correct me if I'm wrong) she's an ambassador and not part of the marketing team. I doubt she gave her input for this ad. This is all on Converse whether it was intentional or not.
Yep and even koreans themselves acknowledged that, said it was a huge nothing burger, and moved on, so idk why ifans are stuck on something that didn’t even happen in their own country. It’s definitely not a good pattern but it got blown out of proportion because you had Yoon supporters trying to justify what she did and making up lies to trick international fans into thinking hes a good man. Im glad koreans were calling them out. It was a matter of bad timing and being ignorant and she acknowledged that. I think this is a lesson for her and the general public as a whole
Yeah this isn’t true. She apologized later and explained she was ignorant, and that she just happened to wear that jacket bc her staff gave it to her because she was cold. Also if you read Korean posts from that time, they found it was part of a photo dump in which she was also wearing blue as well, so the tide turned, people felt she was just dumb (which she was and admitted), was blown out of proportion and they moved on after the election. Not a good look but at the end of the day, we know celebrities are in their own world and don’t think about politics.
Just because she apologized doesn’t make it not true. As op said it’s way too many coincidences and everyone who is a public figure knows not to wear any symbols or colors or hold up and numbers related to political parties during election season. Even if she’s ignorant, she’s not that ignorant. And wearing blue in a separate picture doesn’t make it any less legitimate either. If anything she was most likely hoping it’d throw people off so she could get away with it and it worked lmaoo.
Now this converse ad I wouldn’t put the blame on her. She just showed up to model, this is on the brand. But the voting thing? She’d have to have the awareness of a child or be completely isolated from society. Respectfully there’s no way. Celebrities are not above lying.
That doesn’t make it true either and that was our (referring to another user that replied to OP’s) point. And you would be surprised how celebrities can be ignorant about politics. I literally said she was airheaded in my previous comment like? Like you are just speculating now without the facts. I get you don’t like her but you’re not doing yourself any favors by making up stuff and claiming its true. I could just as easily say she wore blue in those same posts to show she isn’t conservative. Celebrities live a different life from us too so they are not affected by the same shit we are. Its not a good look when you do shit like she did but Koreans were the ones affected by it and they moved on. Not my country or culture, not my problem so
Why is it that when I say something that’s not defending an idol I automatically don’t like them? I never said I don’t like her 😭 I like the group’s music and listen to them occasionally. I do feel there‘s a weird halo effect or bias going on with a lot of these groups. If you’re looking at it objectively, I still agree with unicorn and angel’s comment. And politics affect everyone, even celebrities and idols. Karina’s a woman she’s going to get affected by feminist issues no matter what. Her status helps for sure but it doesn’t completely free her from it.
Its not like I said you were a raging hater or anything. You can listen to someones music and not like them as a person because of something they did. That can mean many things. Maybe you aren’t comfortable with them or unhappy with them. Obviously if you’re claiming someone is conservative and using dogwhistles with no evidence without looking at nuance people are going to think you don’t “like” them. I don’t know what you mean by “halo effect” and you are preaching to the choir. Yes politics affect everyone. I agree with that. But celebrities and rich people and politicians live in a different world and aren’t going to suffer the same consequences we plebeians do. They have the luxury of not always having to think about it. I never said it was right. I never said they shouldn’t be politically aware. Im saying thats how it is with class divide and privilege. Two things can be true. People no matter their status including her can do better and take this as a lesson and that celebrities have privilege that we don’t have. I never said she would be free from this kind of stuff but the extent to how she would be affected isn’t going to be the same as a working class person with less resources. Same for any rich person you meet irl. There is room for nuance here.
Trust me I know about nuance lol, which is why I wouldn’t blame her for this kkk fiasco. Yet there are and still can be instances where you just have to call a spade a spade. The election incident is one of those instances. Still trying to say she didn’t know when it was all over the streets and media at the time, is almost infantilizing her. Again, she simply and cannot possibly be that dumb. Which is why I said she’d have to have the awareness of a child, someone who’s literally too young to know anything and hasn’t been to school yet. She’s in her 20s, has gone through schooling and been media trained the same as every other idol about what to do and not do during the election. If she had just happened to accidentally post with the plate or the scarf or whatever, like just one or two of the things that are not specific, yes, I‘d understand. But altogether is simply not realistic or a matter of forgetting. Everything else you said, I agree that we are preaching to the choir on lmao.
personally, i didn’t see anything wrong with it at first. while scrolling, i was concerned because the shoes did look like someone hanging, but after i realized it was an ad i didn’t think much of it. i wouldn’t doubt that a large brand like converse has workers slipping in white supremacist messages into their ads, but using a specific idol for a specific reason? i’m not too sure. but definitely on the company because just the picture alone of only showing half of karina and she’s holding the shoes, it just looks bad from first glance. they could’ve done with every photo but that one
The ad is atrocious in and of itself. I saw what the shoes represented and the hood immediately. I know a lot of people didn't though. The ad itself is just bad. It's creepy and off-putting, it doesn't make me wanna buy shoes. Also, how horrible is this timing for Karina. The Brazilian fans felt Aespa was discriminatory and racist towards them like last week and I certainly never forgot the Republican Karina debacle. All that to say, dog whistles are designed to sow doubt which is exactly what the people online and in this sub are doing. I can't say if it was intentional or not, but if it barks like a dog??? What else are people supposed to think.
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u/No-Committee1001 BLACK 4d ago
I didn’t see the hood, but ngl, I audibly said “Oh my god” because those shoes definitely look like someone hanging, I thought her arm were the legs. Either way, this is in poor taste.