Following widespread backlash on social media, clips of Red Velvet‘s Seulgi showing a boycotted brand have been removed from her most recent vlog.
Earlier this week, a new episode of Seulgi’s “Vacation Life” series on her personal vlog channel, Hi Seulgi, sparked mass disappointment from K-Pop fans.
Towards the video, which showed Seulgi’s culinary activities in Kaohsiung following Red Velvet’s recent performance in Taiwan, viewers spotted Seulgi drinking a can of Coca-Cola. Alongside consuming the drink, Seulgi was also seen showing the can’s logo directly to the camera, with a caption that mentioned the brand name.
Over the past several months, Coca-Cola has been facing a large-scale boycott due to its involvement in the ongoing human rights violations taking place against Palestinians in Gaza. While the brand is not included on the official Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) movement’s official list, it is one of the most notable brands consumers are choosing to avoid en masse.
Coca Cola
🩸 Coca-Cola Israel owns dairy farms in the illegal Israeli settlements of Shadmot Mehola and Atarot and a plant in the illegally occupied Golan Heights.
🩸 Also financially supported an extremist Israeli group that denied the 1948 ethnic cleansing of 750,000+… pic.twitter.com/YlRLUeOfiU— Engene For Palestine (@engene4pal) July 25, 2024
When the clips hit social media, thousands of fans called on Seulgi to educate herself on the boycott movement, starting social media trends and attempting to spread the message through SM Entertainment‘s fan-artist messaging app Bubble.
hello, feel free to send these infographics to seulgi on bubble when she comes online. (trans. by @joykunty , thanks!)
use her bubble tag #슬기버블 and the tag she herself recommended for connecting with her #슬기에게 (info from @mvplmd, thanks!)#RedVelvet #SEULGI https://t.co/JlQrEGDtVT pic.twitter.com/ClWVHWRJmq— renjoyer (@geumjassi_) July 26, 2024
Alongside this, many fans and major fanbases for Seulgi also directed their efforts at Studio Episode: the vlog agency that manages Seulgi’s personal channel. Now, it seems concerns have been heard. Less than a day after the vlog was uploaded, all clips and mentions of Coca-Cola have been edited out of the video.
The removal of the brand has been seen as a positive first step by fans, as many have expressed concern that even if its inclusion was unintentional, the exposure could still benefit Coca-Cola’s bottom line. However, Studio Episode has yet to comment on the situation, and fans are still calling on Seulgi to address it herself.https://x.com/KSGUpdates/status/1817065962862190597
Fans and fanbases alike are encouraging efforts to contact Seulgi through Bubble, who has recently been active on the app following the vlog’s release. Given that the Red Velvet star recently issued a formal apology after Korean netizens opposed her swapping shoes with her manager, many hope that she will see and react to international fans’ sentiments in the same way.
