Despite not having made their official debut, SM Entertainment’s latest girl group, Hearts2Hearts, is already bagging invitations. Among those include a CF deal with coffee chain MegaCoffee, and this chain has so far released a concept image for their upcoming campaign with the girl group.
The image in question is displayed in a format of a group chat, where members discuss the brand and deals. However, the chat screen and emojis, which adopt a cute, pixely, and Y2K vibe, have been said to be a tad too similar to NJZ (NewJeans)’s concept photos for their communication app, Phoning. In fact, similar accusations have previously been raised against SM boy group RIIZE, which used the same aesthetics,
On the other hand, many netizens argued that while there are undoubted similarities, it’s a stretch to call this “plagiarism”, since NJZ is not the one that invented such concepts. Rather, it’s more proper to view NJZ as a “trend-setter” of this aesthetic in K-pop.
Additionally, several pointed out that MegaCoffee was the party behind the controversial concept image, not SM. Therefore, this is likely to be a brand deal thing, rather than the actual concept that Hearts2Hearts will be utilizing.
Below are some comments from netizens on a related topic on the Korean forum Pann Nate, which has drawn over 90,000 views:
- It seems that they were somewhat inspired by NJZ, but calling it plagiarism is a bit too far
- NJZ is a true trendsetter if you think about it
- This a MegaCoffee ad, not an SM release, so why are you guys criticizing the group? They cannot decide the ad concept
- The idol industry tend to follow trends, and this concept is trending right now, it’s honestly no big deal
- Calling a similar concept plagiarism… That’s one thing seriously annoying about K-pop nowadays.
