BTS’s BT21 Criticized For Promoting NewJeans — Brand Responds

The initial backlash took over social media.
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Koreaboo

BTS‘s brand BT21 came under fire for promoting NewJeans in a recent post.

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The members of BTS | @bts_bighit/Twitter
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The members of NewJeans | @newjeans_ADOR/Twitter

One of the things that ARMYs love about BTS’s image is BT21, which are characters created for the members of the group and have a range of merch.

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BTS’s BT21 range

BT21 has become its own brand and grown globally, but it is part of LINE FRIENDS, which has other collaborations, including with NewJeans.

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NewJeans’ LINE FRIENDS range

On June 18, netizens were shocked to see an advertisement on BT21’s X page promoting NewJeans’ products.

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When the post was shared, netizens were shocked and angry. BT21 is the brand specifically for BTS and is centered on the group specifically, with a substantial amount of more followers than the main account for LINE FRIENDS. It meant that ARMYs believed the account was trying to take “advantage” of BTS and their fame to promote another group’s products.

After seeing the backlash, the ad was deleted.

BT21 addressed the issue in both Korean and English on their X account. In the statement, they explained that it was due to an error with settings that had been corrected, emphasizing that they were taking all steps to ensure it wouldn’t happen again.

Hello, this is Team BT21.

We deeply apologize for the recent issue where an AD of another IP was mistakenly sent out via our BT21 official X account.

Due to a setting error, unrelated contents were mistakenly advertised, but this has now been corrected. We promise to make every effort, such as strengthening oversight and establishing guidelines, to prevent a recurrence.

Thank you for your understanding and continued support.

— BT21

When the apology was posted, some were skeptical about the reasoning.

Before the tweet was deleted and an apology was shared, “DO NOT USE BTS LINE FRIENDS” was trending worldwide. The issue is even more prominent considering the ongoing feud between HYBE and ADOR.

Source: @BT21_
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