When Ads Go Wrong: How Far Can PR Take You?
Written by: Juliette G. Rincon-Vazquez
Introduction
What happens when a brand’s campaign goes south? Converse recently found itself in this exact situation when its newest campaign caused an uproar across social media. Numerous viewers accused the brand of publishing content that resembled historical lynching imagery, which caused a significant backlash. As a result, the company turned to its PR team for help navigating this crisis.
So, how did Converse’s PR team respond, and did their methods even work?
The Converse Controversy
Converse’s goal with the campaign was not to reference racial violence, but to appeal to a younger, more global audience in response to declining sales (Metro Mode, 2026). So, what went wrong? The advertisement itself was not necessarily what upset people; instead, it was a particular image that turned audiences’ heads. A campaign that had intended to promote the company and boost sales backfired, quickly becoming a high-profile PR issue. Converse’s PR team needed to craft a response that could bring audiences back to the brand and hopefully remedy the situation.
Now the real question is: Did they succeed?
The Response
Converse responded quickly with an apology and removed the images. At first glance, Converse seemed to do the right thing, but there are definitely areas where the response could have been executed better. For one, PR critics viewed the apology as brief and tone-deaf given the severity of the public reaction (Cerullo, 2026). If the company had taken ownership of its mistakes, the response may have been more widely accepted by the public.
Accountability and proactivity are the driving factors of an effective apology, especially when addressing an issue of this scale. If Converse had taken the time to show the public, through meaningful actions, that they were committed to rectifying their mistake, trust with their audiences could have been rebuilt. Releasing a bland two-to three- sentence long response was not enough. There are so many different routes Converse could have gone, like improving its internal review protocol. Words can only go so far in public relations, which is why successful companies, like this one, need to prioritize actions alongside strong public statements.
Conclusion
So, the real answer to my initial question would be that it just depends. A lot of the weight falls on PR teams and how they choose to handle a situation. This whole fiasco is a great example of how important it is to take pride in your work as a PR professional and understand that the work you do can have long-lasting effects on a brand’s reputation. At the end of the day, we cannot control the media’s reaction, but we can control how we respond and prepare for the outcome. The Converse controversy is a great opportunity to learn and put yourself in the shoes of a PR professional facing a big crisis like that. It makes you stop and ask yourself:
What would you do?
References
Cerullo, M. (2026, September 22). Converse apologizes for sneaker ad after critics say it uses racist imagery. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/converse-pulls-sneaker-ad-racist-imagery/
Metro Mode. (2026, September 20). Converse apologises for Advertising Image. https://metromode.se/en/mode/converse-stoppar-reklambilden-efter-kritiken-vi-gjorde-fe l/?