Coca-Cola Controversy Engulfs BTS’ V Amid BDS Pressure

Amid a global outcry over a genocide in Gaza and Israel’s continued attacks in the region, South Korean boy band BTS’s Kim Taehyung, known mononymously as V, has been the subject of serious criticism over the Internet for being chosen as the new face of Coca-Cola Zero in Korea, the soda brand’s latest commercial campaign.

The deal has attracted condemnation online from around the world for being “tone deaf” and “deeply disappointing” as it comes amid ongoing massacres in the Gaza Strip, in which more than 16,000 Palestinians, a quarter of them children, have been killed, with the company also named on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) list.

On July 31, South Korean advertising agency GDS released a flashy music video and photos, all of which were tagged under #BestCokeEver, for its latest project for Coca-Cola Korea and revealed that Taehyung had replaced the Korean girl group NewJeans from the management company’s sister label, HYBE LABELS, to become the beverage’s newest celebrity endorser.

The lineup of “Some Many Dream“, which was done in collaboration with the brand, showed Taehyung delivering an artistic performance before the video cut to footage of him walking alongside fans and waving as the lively music played. According to the description, Taehyung, a model of “energy and sincerity”, will be involved in the full range of marketing activities.

BTS member V Joins Coke’s Marketing Crew

The advertisement was immediately met with online outrage, with many angry social media users writing on Twitter and other social platforms to condemn V’s promotional collaboration with Coca-Cola.

BTS, as an international K-pop idol boy band with millions of fans around the world, has often been praised for its continued awareness of important social issues and humanitarian crises. The group has often spoken out against racism and discrimination against Asians around the world, and the members have even made supportive gestures and collaborated with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Yet, despite their vocal support for the BLM movement, the group has remained quiet on the crisis in Gaza and Israel despite calls for humanitarian intervention by the United Nations. Their silence on the crisis this year becomes more egregious with the announcement of V’s promotion as the face of Coca-Cola. The world-famous brand has a large part of its operations in the occupied territories and Israel, where its marketing activities and efforts have been supported and expanded.

Taehyung was also the subject of criticism last year when he casually posted a photo of McDonald’s fries in 2023. While both McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have a large number of operations in the illegal settlements in the West Bank, the post did not incite significant backlash like it has for its latest Coca-Cola campaign.

Calls For Boycott Over V and Coca-Cola Partnership

Social media users have come out in droves to condemn V’s decision to endorse Coca-Cola by calling for a boycott against the soda brand and expressing their extreme disappointment at Taehyung and other BTS members.

In one tweet, a user said:

“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.”

In a lengthy article by WhoProfits, an Israel boycott monitoring research center, evidence of the multinational company’s involvement in Israel’s illegal activities in Palestine was exposed.

Coca-Cola has come under extreme criticism in early 2024, after the company published an advertisement in Bangladesh, denying any existing business relations with the Jewish state.

The post was later challenged by activist organizations who showed that Coca-Cola Israel has been registered as a “local company” in several illegal settlements.

According to WhoProfits, Coca-Cola Israel has a factory in the Atarot Settlement Industrial Zone, an area that is built on the stolen lands of occupied Palestinian villages. It also noted that its subsidiary, the Tabor Winery, has been seen using grapes from the occupied West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights in its business activities.

Fans of BTS are not the only ones who have been boycotting Coca-Cola due to the company’s complicit relationship with Israel ,as its operations in Palestine hhavebeen a central issue for BDS list supporters.

V and BTS have not yet responded to the backlash winthe official Weverse fan community. It remains to be seen whether the Korean idol will stay with the brand’s new campaign.