Even non-fans of BTS would be familiar with BT21 – a merchline under Line Friends which features characters named and designed by the BTS members themselves. Thus, while BT21 has gone on to become its own brand with global recognition, there’s no denying its strong affiliations with BTS.
However, on June 18, the official account of BT21 recently published a post promoting Line Friends’ new merchline with NewJeans – leading to angry reactions from fans.
According to fans, with this move, Line Friends was probably trying to take advantage of BT21 and BTS’s popularity – which is simply unacceptable.
As a result, comments criticizing the unwelcomed promo have popped up all over the net, and the post promoting NewJeans was soon deleted.
On June 19, the official account of BT21 issued an official apology as below:
“Hello, this is Team BT21.
We deeply apologize for the recent issue where an AD of another IP was mistakenly sent out via our BT21 official X account.
Due to a setting error, unrelated contents were mistakenly advertised, but this has now been corrected. We promise to make every effort, such as strengthening oversight and establishing guidelines, to prevent a recurrence.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.”
However, fans of BTS maintain their anger, pointing out that Line Friends was probably just making up excuses, as it was unlikely for such a large brand to use the wrong account for ad.
As of the moment, negative comments still fill up the apology post on BT21’s account.
Source: X, Krb
