[talk] [Exclusive] "Hive Boycott" BTS Fandom ARMY Begins Boycott of Pop-Ups and Goods

They're going as far as boycotting Hive. Wow, they really betrayed my trust.

BTS' fandom, ARMY, is taking action to boycott their agency HYBE and Big Hit Music. As the recent noise surrounding BTS continues, ARMY is taking action to express their anger, such as by boycotting some of the goods released by HYBE.

A place where you can see signs of ARMYs' boycott is the pop-up store in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, which has been in operation since the 26th of last month.

This place where you can buy various goods including black-and-white photos taken of BTS members before their enlistment continues to be deserted. An ARMY who requested anonymity told our newspaper, “BTS pop-up stores often have people waiting in line or the goods are sold out, but this pop-up store has definitely received less attention than before,” adding, “Isn’t that proof that there are a lot of ARMYs who are angry at HYBE?”

In addition, reviews of those who visited the BTS Seongsu-dong pop-up store responded that it was easy to purchase goods even now and that there were no waiting lines, making it more comfortable to visit, unlike previous BTS-related pop-up stores.

ARMYs' discontent towards HYBE is gradually growing. A representative example is the recent protest of wreaths and trucks in front of HYBE's headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. At the time, they expressed their discontent with messages such as, "Absolutely oppose re-signing," "HYBE is already unreliable," "HYBE is just a big company with nothing but appearances," and "We hope BTS will escape HYBE due to the owner's constant risk."

One ARMY said, “With less than 50 days left until the member’s first discharge, seeing how HYBE is dealing with the controversy makes you wonder what their future support will be like?” and “The way for ARMYs to express their opinions to HYBE is to not spend money without proper treatment, and the fastest way to do that is to boycott the current pop-up store (in Seongsu-dong).”

He also said, "ARMY is a fan of BTS, not HYBE. I think this is the last chance to separate the image of HYBE and BTS."

It seems that most ARMYs agree with this opinion. Similar content is being posted one after another on social networking services (SNS) and online communities related to BTS. Ultimately, this is leading to a boycott of the Seongsu-dong pop-up store that is currently underway, and the 'Hive Boycott' movement is expected to continue in the future.

On the 3rd, ARMYs stated in a statement to the press, “HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk and CEO Park Ji-won should stop media play that uses BTS as a shield for the agency’s internal and external negative issues,” and “We support BTS, not HYBE.”

Big Hit Music, a subsidiary of HYBE, said, “We want to make it clear that the intentions of BTS to defame and slander us, such as private marketing, concept theft, connection to Danworld, and suspicions of a pseudo-religion, are not true,” and “We have collected numerous posts that constitute the spread of false information and defamation and submitted the first complaint to the investigative authorities today (May 2).”

https://v.daum.net/v/20240510150228325