Producer: Peuli Bakshi
Owing to the ongoing Israeli hostilities towards Palestine, Starbucks has been boycotted by a lot of people globally for allegedly being pro-Israeli.
Several K-pop idols have also found themselves in the midst of hatred for endorsing the brand ever since, the latest case being that of NCT's.
K-pop boy band NCT recently saw a massive decline in social media following due to their collaboration announcement with Starbucks Korea. As a reaction to this, a lot of posts with #SM_boycott_genocide flooded in X.
Amidst all these, NCT's leader Taeyong posted "Boycott" text on his Instagram story but took it down after 10 mins, probably due to his agency's policies. However, he received praise for showing courage to post that.
NCT is not the only K-pop group under fire for being related to Starbucks. Previously idols like Somi, Le Sserafim's Yun-jin, and Enhypen's Jake also underwent similar reactions.
Soloist Somi faced heavy backlash after a cup with a Starbucks logo was seen in one of her TikTok videos last year.
Enhypen's Jake was seen consuming a Starbucks drink during a live stream in January. He received a lot of hate for that and had to apologize on social media.
Le Sserafim's Huh Yun-jin posted a photo of sipping Starbucks coffee on Instagram. After that, her page was filled with critical comments, leading her to take down the post.
Starbucks Korea is separate from the US brand, with Emart owning 67.5% and Singapore's GIC owning the rest, since Starbucks sold its shares in 2021. Collaboration items are Korea-exclusive.