Social Media Erupts Over V’s New Coca-Cola Endorsement

On July 31, Kim Taehyung, better known to fans all over the world as V of BTS, became the latest face of Coke’s zero-sugar soda. However, his appointment as the new face of a global company did not go unnoticed and was met by a harsh response from some netizens.

As per Korean media outlet Soompi, the last member of BTS to become an official brand ambassador of Coca-Cola Korea has been V. The agency HYBE released the initial announcement earlier this week that their artist had been chosen to be the latest face of the refreshing beverage.

Visuals from the agency’s Twitter account showed an in-person exclusive announcement event, which included V’s interview, clips from his time filming the campaign, and, of course, a big reveal of V himself replacing the girl group NewJeans from the said beverage company. This part of the post garnered the most attention from online users, leading to major backlash.

While global brands like Coca-Cola are not a stranger to endorsements from international celebrities, BTS’s new announcement turned out to be quite a hot topic of conversation. Netizens described the agency’s latest endorsement as “tone deaf” and “deeply disappointing” due to the current genocide in Gaza, not to mention Coca-Cola’s presence on the BDS list.

BTS members are being labeled as voiceless again

The reason why fans of the seven-member group have lost their cool over the recent announcement regarding one of their favorite members is due to a harsh difference between BTS’s public image in years past and its overall silence in regards to the current crisis in Gaza.

The members of BTS have frequently shown their dedication to speaking out on such issues, including being a voice for the BLM movement or various other movements against the discrimination of Asian people. Yet, they have been notably silent on their official accounts and, at least in V’s case, have now also made themselves an advertisement for a corporation that has, allegedly, been making a profit on the occupied land in Israel.

Fans have been known to call out BTS for its members’ inaction in the past, though on a much smaller scale. Last year, V received backlash over a photo of McDonald’s fries he had posted just a few hours earlier. While McDonald’s is a global brand, the controversy was also tied to the company’s alleged involvement with Israel.

The advertisement that hit a boiling point in April 2024 is just one of a series of reported incidents by Coca-Cola regarding its investment, profits, and manufacturing within the illegally occupied West Bank settlements.

Coca-Cola is also a part of the BDS list

It all started with the advertisement in Bangladesh that Coca-Cola shared in April 2024. The advertisement is, reportedly, denying the company’s affiliation with Israel. In response to that, activists and researchers from human rights organizations claimed that a recorded Coca-Cola Israel is operating on occupied land.

As per reports by WhoProfits, a research center monitoring and exposing corporate complicity in the Israeli occupation, it is documented that “Coca-Cola Israel has a soft drink bottling plant and a winery at Atarot Settlement Industrial Zone, an illegal settlement industrial zone.”

In addition, their Tabor Winery company sources its grapes from the occupied West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights.

Coca-Cola, in recent years, has become a common sight on boycott lists by pro-Palestine activists and even BDS campaigns. In Taehyung’s case, fans are not only expressing their disappointment over his lack of voice on the matter, but also a lack of research when it comes to the ethical values of the brands he is seen promoting.

Fans called V “tone-deaf” and an “enabler.”

Fans on social media did not shy away from expressing their opinions on V’s new venture and Coca-Cola’s connection to Israel, and have been quick to label the new face of the zero-sugar beverage as tone-deaf and as an enabler to genocide and crimes against humanity.

“Dear Taehyung, BTS, Coca Cola has been operating on the stolen land of the Palestinians, some of whom are your ARMY. Please don’t work with and promote its products. Please educate yourself. Cancel the endorsement and stand with humanity.”

Fans and ARMYs started posting about the latest BTS member’s new endorsement on Twitter, with the user mentioning it in their post. “Coca-Cola is working in settlements on stolen Palestinian land, profiting from Apartheid”, with other users following up with boycotting #BoycottCoke #BoycottHybe.

They even tagged Coca-Cola’s official handle with a simple message: “Help us take down this guy. Support us in boycotting Coke products and making a better world.”

V has not made an official statement regarding his new campaign for Coca-Cola or the comments against his appointment as of this article being posted.