Companies that use Yoo An In in their advertisements are taking “precautions” following the actor’s drug accusation.
Advertising agencies that have hired Yoo Ah In as their model are erasing his traces one after another. They seem to be keeping a close eye on the investigation while still pondering about whether or not to cancel the advertising contract.
According to Seoul Finance on February 10th, Chong Kun Dang Health has deleted all photos of advertising model Yoo Ah In from KakaoTalk gift-giving channel, where its vitamin product was listed. As recently as three days ago, Chong Kun Dang Health inserted Yoo Ah In’s face into most of the vitamin products, but deleted everything when suspicions of propofol use emerged.
Regarding their position on the case, Chong Kun Dang Health refused to disclose its contract period with Yoo Ah In, but stated that “it is too early to terminate the contract”, and that they have to “wait and see the investigation process”.
Ottogi, which had already concluded a contract with Yoo Ah In, changed the settings of all their commercial videos, which feature the actor, to private, on YouTube. Previously, a video with Yoo Ah In has exceeded 1 million views within a month.
Similarly, Musinsa also private their advertisement videos related to Yoo Ah In, though just last year, they actively promoted offline business with the actor. It is known that it takes more than a year and cost 500 million won to produce Musinsa’s ad with Yoo Ah In, which included a hyperrealistic virtual human. Including various marketing expenses such as TV advertisements and internet advertisements, additional costs far exceed billions of won.
It seems that after Yoo Ah In’s allegations broke out, advertisers are terminating contracts even in case of losses. Accordingly, it is expected that there will be many restrictions on his advertising activities in the future.
Meanwhile, Yoo Ah In was recently investigated by the police on charges of habitually administering propofol, a psychotropic drug, from various hospitals. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said that Yoo Ah In was often prescribed propofol and requested the police to investigate. In response, the police took Yoo Ah In’s body hair, entrusted it to the National Forensics Center, and banned him from leaving the country.
Yoo Ah In’s agency also admitted to the police investigation. The agency said that it is actively cooperating with all investigations and will actively work on an explanation.
Source: wikitree
