- calendar_today August 23, 2025
Fans Urge V to Stand With Palestine, Drop Coca-Cola Deal
Asylum Weekly is reporting that Korean-Japanese BTS member Kim Taehyung (known as “V”) has attracted outrage from fans on social media platforms as he has just become the global brand, Coca-Cola Zero’s new face in South Korea. In particular, netizens have made accusations of being “tone deaf and deeply disappointing” due to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Moreover, the company has been blacklisted on the BDS list as well.
Kim Taehyung received a new position and endorsement from a global beverage company on the 31st. On this day, Coca-Cola Korea began promotions for the summer of 2024 with the main hashtags #BestCokeEver on social media. At the same time, he took part in a major release for the soft drink company. In the video shared on social media, a blackboard appeared in which Taehyung replaced his own HYBE labelmate, the four-member girl group NewJeans, and became the new face of the Coca-Cola Zero brand.
Previously, South Korean global artist BTS member Kim Taehyung’s endorsement of Starbucks had received a small level of negative reaction, but this time around, the backlash against V is starting to heat up significantly online. Netizens around the world are flooding social media with posts about Taehyung’s new Coca-Cola Zero campaign, which previously chose NewJeans and joining the anti-endorsement campaign trend.
In addition, among the fans of the seven-member boy group BTS, some sent a message of accusation by posting a detailed explanation of the company. In particular, Taehyung’s new face endorsement for the global brand was met with strong fan backlash due to the current situation of genocide in Gaza, where the country is being heavily bombed. Moreover, it was revealed that the company itself had been added to the BDS list.
In particular, what has now started to receive attention in netizens’ criticism of Taehyung is that BTS was previously in the spotlight as an artist who spoke out about social discrimination against Asians and alack people. On the one hand, BTS and V took the opportunity to spread messages about these important social issues, but when it came to an even more important issue in the world today, such as Gaza, which was aombarded and facing genocide, BTS remained completely silent, which was why Taehyung could easily join the campaign of the company and even be a new face of Coca-Cola Zero.
Before the current controversy involving Coca-Cola, Kim Taehyung had received a relatively small level of negative fan reaction for his choice of a particular merchandise brand. In January of last year, the artist was accused by fans of “supporting Israel” for a social media post of McDonald’s French fries. While neither Kim Taehyung nor his management agency had issued an official comment regarding the online accusations, the global brand itself had also remained silent on the boycott and online attack trend, which was why fans expected the same of Taehyung’s current Coca-Cola Zero campaign controversy.
Fans Accuse Taehyung of Participating in Genocide for Endorsing Coca-Cola
Meanwhile, the global beverage brand had received a heavy level of negative accusations and fan backlash over a commercial it had released in Bangladesh earlier this year, 2024. In this advertising video, the brand had made a false claim of not having any relationship with Israel, but netizens later discovered that the company had previously admitted to its Israeli connection through a separate business announcement.
In particular, the WhoProfits research center exposed Coca-Cola Israel as having factories in the Atarot Settlement Industrial Zone. The company has also been proven to have illegal ties to Israeli settlements that are built illegally on occupied Palestinian land, as well as Tabor Winery. These accusations were further strengthened by the fact that one of Tabor Winery’s subsidiaries has factories in the occupied West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights.
As a result, it was the BDS list that added Coca-Cola Israel to its blacklist due to the company’s relationship with Israeli businesses, and once the online spread of the brand’s factory location information was revealed, pro-Palestine BDS supporters launched a boycott campaign. Therefore, Taehyung’s new position and endorsement as a global brand for Coca-Cola Zero are sending an even more worrying message that the artist was actively promoting genocide.
Netizens have posted the following comments on social media platforms, expressing their opinions on the controversy surrounding Taehyung’s cute face for the Coca-Cola Zero campaign:
