Celebrity

The unfortunate encounters between K-pop idols and luxury brands: Gucci was dubious in their collaboration with Hanni (NewJeans), Dior did Sehun (EXO) dirty 

While idols are the ‘money makers’ for fashion houses, they are increasingly being treated badly by the brands.

On December 4th, the K-pop community were surprised upon learning the news of Hanni (NewJeans) becoming the Global Ambassador to the luxury brand Gucci through a Twitter post. The sudden announcement received mixed opinions as the NewJeans member herself has not had much contact with the brand. 

hanni
Gucci suddenly declared Hanni to be their Global Ambassador. (Image: Twitter @gucci)

Amidst the confusion, Gucci deleted their tweet and later uploaded another one where Hanni was called a ‘Brand Ambassador’. On Instagram, she was called the ‘Brand Ambassador’. 

hanni
Gucci retracted their decision and deleted the tweet announcing Hanni’s status as the Global Ambassador. (Image: Gucci) 

Fans were disturbed at the event as they felt their idol was not treated with respect and the event drew unwanted criticism to the rookie idol. Hanni has not debuted long enough with NewJeans so carrying the title of ‘global ambassador’ is currently not the best choice for the idol. Nonetheless, Gucci was not professional enough in doing their publicity and received a lot of criticism from fans. 

newjeans hanni gucci
Instagram posts still claimed her to be the Brand Ambassador. (Image: Instagram @newjeans_official)

Dior once created a scene when they changed Sehun’s (EXO) title three times, causing controversy.

sehun
Dior changed Sehun’s title three times. (Image: Dior)  

Specifically, after the “Dior Man Fall 2022” ended, Dior announced Sehun to be the ‘Global Ambassador’ and was the first male star to earn the title. It also made sense because Sehun had worked with the brand since 2019, therefore, fans were happy at the news. 

Not long after, Sehun was ‘demoted’ from ‘Global Ambassador’ to ‘Friend of the House’, and later ‘Brand Ambassador’ after a wave of criticism from fans. The mishaps left a bad impression of Dior for K-pop fans in general. 

sehun
Lastly, Dior confirmed him to be the ‘Brand Ambassador’. (Image: Dior) 

Read also: The times when brands “turned against” K-pop idols (ft. Jisoo, Irene, and more) 

In early 2022, when Jisoo officially ended her contract with fashion brand itMICHAA, the brand was quick to unfollow her on Instagram. Fans were displeased when they found out and immediately turned their back on itMICHAA. 

jisoo
Jisoo was the ‘muse’ of itMICHAA. (Image: itMICHAA)
jisoo
She helped elevate the status of the brand. (Image: itMICHAA) 

During her time working with the brand, Jisoo did her jobs well and brought eminent streams of revenue thanks to her reputation. The switch in attitude was considered as unprofessional to their former partner. 

jisoo
Fans and the public boycotted itMICHAA for their unprofessionalism. (Image: itMICHAA)

Source: Yan

Back to top button