A global sneaker brand found itself navigating the treacherous intersection of visual language and historical trauma this week, when an advertisement released by Converse drew social media comparisons to imagery associated with the Ku Klux Klan. The company withdrew the campaign and issued an apology, a response that speaks less to any single creative misstep than to the broader condition of modern brand-making — where millions of eyes now serve as the last line of review. In an era when symbols carry the weight of centuries, the distance between an unexamined image and a cultural wound can be