NCT Fans Announce A Boycott Of The Group’s Latest Brand Endorsement In Support Of Palestine

Many have called out SM Entertainment.

Fans of NCT have called for a boycott targeting the group’s latest collaboration with Starbucks.

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Recently, Starbucks Korea launched an extensive collaboration with NCT for not only food and drinks, but also various merchandize.

But fans are not happy with this brand deal, as Starbucks falls under the BDS (Boycott, Divest, and Sanction) list of brands that are being boycotted globally for their involvement in Zionism. Amidst the horrific onslaught on civilian lives in the Gaza Strip in Palestine by Israel, an accelerating global movement is aiming to dismantle the financial support that makes these heinous attacks on innocent lives possible. Many K-Pop fandoms have also joined in the efforts.

In the past few months, multiple idols have faced intense backlash for featuring Starbucks drinks in their social media content or even appearing with them in public. Many have argued that Starbucks Korea is co-owned by Korea-based E-Mart (a Shinsegae affiliate) and Singapore-based GIC Private LTD and, hence, is a separate entity from its American counterpart. However, the chain still has to pay a certain percentage of royalty to the American headquarters for using the Starbucks branding, which inevitably subjects their monetary profits to the BDS movement.

Hence, NCT fans have banded together in large numbers to renounce this new collaboration, calling out SM Entertainment in the process. With a hashtag that said “SM_Boycott_Genocide,” the fans have put forth their demands for the label to stop associating their artists with any brand that supports this violation of human rights in Gaza. The hashtag was trending on X (formerly Twitter) with an overwhelming number of posts calling for this same demand.

Other fandoms, including ARMYs, who have been calling for HYBE to divest from Zionism for months, have shown their support and admiration for this boycott movement. Meanwhile, many believe that NCT member Taeyeong has addressed these calls in a now-deleted Instagram story. You can read about it here.

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