The controversy began when a staff member shared photos of SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu, taken during the filming of a commercial, on his personal social media account. Among these photos were some more revealing ones, which alarmed fans.
The employee wrote: “Mingyu, who took up most of my photo album… I couldn’t delete it because I was nervous, but I think I should start organizing them now…“
Fans were outraged by the violation of Mingyu’s privacy and quickly started using trending hashtags to demand greater protection for the idol.
you know what’s really sick about this is that he’s really kind and respectful to everyone he works with but some of you take advantage of him so easily https://t.co/Ai61vkcwXd
— the mole on Jeonghan’s arm (@ggyusclues) September 2, 2024
In response, L’Occitane released an official statement to address the situation.
“This is L’Occitane Korea. We sincerely apologize for the recent incident involving the unauthorized release of L’Occitane Asia Ambassador campaign photos, which were improperly distributed on the personal social media account of one of our employees. We recognize that there is no excuse for this violation and we fully accept responsibility for what occurred.
We take this matter very seriously and deeply regret the inconvenience caused to the artist and all fans. We extend our deepest apologies. The employee involved has been completely removed from all duties and immediate disciplinary measures (suspension) have been applied.
To prevent such incidents in the future, we will implement a comprehensive and regular training program for all employees. This program will emphasize the critical importance of respecting the copyright, portrait rights, publicity rights and privacy of our brand ambassador.
We will ensure that every employee fully understands and adheres to these principles, and we will approach this process with a strong sense of responsibility. We deeply regret what happened and accept full responsibility. Once again, we sincerely apologize to the artist and all fans.”
Korean netizens expressed their confusion and frustration, wondering why the employee had saved these photos on his phone in the first place. They commented, “Why are they posting this on their social media for everyone to see… isn’t this sexual harassment towards Mingyu?”, “Some people didn’t see the problem, but when I asked them to imagine this happening to a female idol, they immediately changed their minds.”, “Please think before you do something“…
Source: Krb
