A couple of reports about BTS Jungkook’s ‘Back-Door Advertisement’ Complaint have been going viral on social media, we’re here to explain what’s going on and why ARMY are furious.
The issue has been heating for the past couple of days, it started with some netizens claiming Jungkook was doing back-door advertisement for his brother’s brand. But what does a back-door advertisement mean?
The term refers to individuals [usually in social media] who advertise products to their audiences without disclosing they’ve been either paid or have ties to the product’s company.
Previously, there have been celebrities who were accused of this earlier this year.
Jungkook’s older brother has established a clothing brand called Six6uys Co. Ltd. They manufacture clothing and accessories.
The issue became heated when Korean news outlets reported a netizen had actually filed a complaint to the FTC [fair trade commission] asking them to properly and ‘thoroughly’ investigate the issue with Jungkook’s alleged backdoor advertisement and take proper measures against it.
The netizen goes on to claim that despite the fact that Jungkook never told fans to buy the clothing, he wore it and appeared on Naver V Live and uploaded selfies wearing the clothing. The netizen says since BTS have a large following and can influence the masses to buy fashion brands they wear, the fact that he’s worn it is enough to warrant the complaint the netizen filed.
In a recent report by Korean news outlet Biz Korea, Jungkook was revealed to have resigned from the company’s position as an in-house director. The information is available publicly on the company’s register. The report concludes that despite HYPE not addressing the issue, Jungkook could have quit the position due to what happened.
However, does this even count as back-door advertisement?
If we take a look at the FTC guidelines to what constitutes back-door advertisement in South Korea, it doesn’t hold up, to fit that term, here is what must happen:
– the ad is conducted via a 3rd party that isn’t the company/advertiser
– the product recommendation is based on experience or direct recommendation of purchase
– money profit is exchanged with the advertiser.
It is difficult to say that any of these apply to Jungkook’s case especially since he has never once mentioned the name of the brand or ever told his fans about it. Fans found out themselves and purchased the clothing. This happens with Jungkook quite often as he’s called the sold-out king for selling out various items he uses or consumes.
Some fans online are claiming antis are behind this forced controversy of Jungkook back-door advertisement and are attempting to hurt and harm his reputation. Thus, ARMY are furious with HYBE’s lack of action in defending Jungkook from such claims.
What do you think of this?
It’s HYBE not HYPE… -_-