On September 23rd, Shin posted on Instagram “Thank you, Apple” along with photos of several new products he received from Apple.
Apple recently unveiled its iPhone 16 series and the Apple Watch Series 10, and these new products were gifted to Director Shin as well.
K-pop fans have been offering various interpretations of Shin’s expression of gratitude toward Apple. This comes in light of the ongoing dispute between Shin and HYBE’s subsidiary ADOR, in which Apple, as an advertiser, had been mentioned.
Previously, Shin criticized ADOR’s new CEO Kim Joo-young for unilaterally demanding the deletion of videos related to Ban Heesoo, a channel related to NewJeans. The Ban Heesoo channel features videos in which a virtual character from NewJeans‘ music video “Ditto” films NewJeans members. The channel, operated as a fan service initiative, is owned by Dolphiners Films.
In response, ADOR stated that they only requested the removal of content posted without consultation with the advertiser, denying that they ever asked for the complete deletion of all videos. ADOR explained, “Posting videos that include NewJeans IP on Dolphiners Films’ channel without ADOR’s approval is a clear violation of the service contract.“
Shin countered this by claiming that the actions were retaliatory because he had submitted a petition supporting ADOR’s former CEO Min Hee-jin during a previous injunction lawsuit between Min and HYBE.
He demanded apologies for three key issues:
(1) the aggressive correction demands that disrespected the partner company, (2) the disregard of previous agreements while accusing Dolphiners Films of copyright infringement, and (3) the public statements criticizing Dolphiners Films and Shin Woo-seok. He further warned that if no apology was made, he would file defamation lawsuits against CEO Kim and ADOR’s Deputy CEO Lee Do-kyung.
A global brand marketing executive commented, “From a brand’s perspective, a channel like Ban Heesoo is valuable because it can offer additional promotional effects. It would likely be seen as a highly strategic marketing move, worthy of praise.”
Source: Daum
