BTS Jin’s Latest Brand Endorsement Leaves Many ARMYs Gutted

Many were heartbroken over the items selling out.
Stories
Serah S. Cherrie
Serah S. Cherrie

BTS Jin’s latest brand ambassadorship has caused some deep cuts within his own fanbase.

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Jin

On July 8, Jin was announced to have been appointed as the first global brand ambassador of the luxury French jewelry maison, Fred.

The announcement was accompanied by some brand new photos of the idol, adorned in Fred jewelry while rocking drastically different styles of outfits. Within a few hours of the announcement, multiple of the jewelry items worn by Jin in his pictures sold out completely.

While such prestigious ambassadorship is usually a reason for celebration among fans, a significant portion of the BTS fanbase was left disappointed and heartbroken over this turn of events.

Firstly, Fred is owned by LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods business, which is owned by the French magnate Bernard Arnault. Due to Arnault’s direct investment in the Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz, all brands under LVMH are currently the target of a pro-Palestinian boycott. According to senior analysts, Israel is known for using its cybersecurity technology on Palestinian civilians to strengthen its position as an “occupying power acting with increasing impunity in the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the coastal strip of Gaza” (Mairav Zonszein, Chatham House).

Such technology fulfils two purposes for Israel, argues Loewenstein, who writes as a journalist and an Australian Jew who was raised to support Israel. It has enabled Israel to deepen its control over millions of Palestinians and to do so at a profit.

Palestinians now constitute a slight majority over Jews across Israel and occupied Palestinian territory, and every one of them is ‘defined as a threat’, writes the author. ‘Today, you’re able to identify and stop surveillance of the next Nelson Mandela before he even knows he’s Nelson Mandela,’ says an Israeli human rights lawyer quoted in the book.

Loewenstein wants to expose Israel as a hostile regime on a par with Russia and China. He conveys a palpable frustration with the fact that Israel has managed to excel at developing tools to maintain ethnonationalist rule and export them to dozens of countries, and at both a financial and diplomatic gain.

— Mairav Zonszein, Chatham House

Following this line of reasoning, LVMH has turned into an organic boycott target by the supporters of the BDS movement, much like Starbucks, though the official BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement) list does not name it as a consumer boycott target.

In this context, Jin’s renewed association with LVMH has disheartened many Palestinian ARMYs and allies, who have been trying to communicate their stance to the BTS members through Weverse for months despite being actively censored by the platform and their co-fans.

There is also a second layer of disappointment in the fandom space regarding the items worn by Jin selling out. Palestinian and pro-Palestinian ARMYs were left bewildered that their peers contributed so hugely to a brand that has such close ties with Israel when, at the same time, the funding goals to evacuate certain ARMYs from Gaza hadn’t been met for months.

Though some argued that regular ARMYs were not the consumers who sold out such expensive items in a matter of hours, many countered, saying that the association of a BTS member with such a brand has an undeniable commercial value and significantly affects sales.

Meanwhile, association with Zionism or Israel has growingly become a point of contention in the K-Pop fandom space at large. In the most recent instance, a K-Pop contest being held in Israel by KBS has been met with fierce backlash from the fan community.

On the other hand, ARMYs are urging Jin, who recently left for France for his Olympic torchbearer duties, to use this opportunity to honor BDS’s call for a ceasefire. Read more about it here.

Source: Chatham House

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