There is a particular kind of modern indignity that involves being blamed for something you had nothing to do with, by people who did not bother to check whether you had anything to do with it.

Rodney Rambo, who served as chief marketing officer at Converse until his departure in January, found himself on the receiving end of this phenomenon on a recent Friday morning, when his phone began filling with messages from strangers who were convinced he had approved an advertisement he had never seen in his professional capacity.

The advertisement in question, which featured the K-pop performer Karina holding a pair of Chuck 70 X sneakers while wearing a white skirt, had been criticized on social media by users who felt its lighting evoked imagery associated with the Ku Klux Klan. Mr. Rambo, who had left the company months before the campaign was produced, learned of its existence the way most people did: by watching it spread across the internet.

"You should be disgusted that this ad was ever approved," one LinkedIn user wrote to him, apparently operating under the assumption that former executives retain perpetual responsibility for the actions of their successors. (One imagines the inbox of every retired politician in America.)

The messages Mr. Rambo received included death threats, according to Adweek, which reviewed several of the communications. This represents a considerable escalation from the standard LinkedIn interaction, which typically involves being asked to endorse someone's skills in "strategic visioning."

The episode offers a small lesson in the mechanics of online accountability, which often resembles a game of telephone played by people who are very angry and not particularly interested in directory assistance. Mr. Rambo's name, after all, was still associated with Converse in the recent memory of search engines. That he had departed before the offending work was created was, apparently, a detail too small for the moment.

Original story published in adweek.com: "Former CMO Rodney Rambo Had Nothing To Do With Converse’s Controversial Ad. He Still Got Death Threats."