Heo Yun-jin, another Starbucks controversy, "unreasonable criticism" vs. "we must be careful"

Another Starbucks controversy.

As the conflict between Israel and Palestine continues, domestic K-pop stars continue to be involved in the Starbucks controversy. Previously, following singer Jeon So-mi and group Enhypen's Jake, group Le Seraphim Heo Yun-jin was also attacked by some K-pop fans again due to the Starbucks controversy.

On the 11th, an article titled ‘Le Seraphim Heo Yun-jin, who is currently being attacked for drinking Starbucks coffee’, spread around online communities. Writer A posted, “Overseas fans are visiting Le Seraphim Heo Yun-jin after drinking Starbucks drinks and leaving malicious comments.”

According to this, overseas netizens responded to Heo Yun-jin's personal SNS with comments such as "You can't even boycott, how are you going to change the idol industry?", "Stop drinking Starbucks drinks", and "I'm really disappointed."

There have been several cases like this before. On January 5th, Jake, a member of the group Enhypen, suddenly received negative comments and complaints from fans while conducting a live broadcast on a fan platform while drinking Starbucks coffee. In the chat window, overseas fans continued to protest, saying, "You should not consume Starbucks," and Jake eventually transferred the drink to another cup and apologized, saying, "I made a mistake. I will make sure this doesn't happen again." .

Singer Jeon So-mi also released a video of herself getting makeup done on her SNS in December last year, but eventually deleted it after receiving a lot of negative comments. There was no problem with the video, but Jeon Somi received a lot of negative comments because she used a Starbucks tumbler. Jeon So-mi later deleted the video, but the malicious comments continued.

In addition, Blackpink's Jisoo, Red Velvet's Seulgi, Seventeen's Hoshi, and Aespa Winter have also been embroiled in similar controversies in the past for drinking Starbucks beverages.

However, it is pointed out that it is excessive to receive malicious comments and attacks from some fans simply for consuming Starbucks drinks without revealing any particular political ideology. Accordingly, antipathy toward some K-pop fans who are inciting biased malicious comments due to unjustifiable controversy is emerging.

On the other hand, some say that in the case of K-pop stars who enjoy a large global fandom, it is better to avoid doing anything that might hurt the feelings of even some fans. Even if you didn't know it at first, the same controversy has continued several times before, and it is said that it is not the attitude of a star to provoke controversy by exposing Starbucks consumption.

Meanwhile, in October of last year, Starbucks sued the Starbucks union for trademark infringement over a post by the Starbucks union expressing support for Palestine on social media. Because of this, Starbucks was classified as a pro-Israel company and a boycott movement broke out, mainly in Arab countries. As the controversy grew, Starbucks' CEO explained that it was "incorrect information that differs from the values that Starbucks pursues," but the boycott does not appear to have subsided.

Choi Ji-ye, Ten Asia Reporter wisdomart@tenasia.co.kr