Korean Netizens Discuss The Negative Impact Of Idol Ambassadors For Luxury Brands

Recently, as K-Pop rises globally, there has been an increase in idol ambassadors for luxury brands. Brands are eager to tag idols to their names. Top groups often have every member endorsing a different brand.

NewJeans’ Haerin for Dior.

An article in Korean media was reposted to an online forum. The article claimed that a mom had been shocked when her elementary school daughter asked her for Miu Miu sneakers. The mother found out that it was due to an idol ambassador for the brand that caused her daughter to desire the sneakers.

“My daughter said she wanted Miu Miu sneakers and so I said okay. But I later found out they cost ₩1.18 million KRW (about $930 USD).”

Mrs Park Ji Young from Hwaseong City, Gyunggi, was surprised when she searched up the price of a pair of sneakers that her eleven-year-old daughter asked her to buy. Mrs Park said, “I thought they would cost a few tens of dollars, but I was rendered speechless. It was a brand that I never heard of before, so I asked how she got to know of it. She said that a girl group member was endorsing the brand.”

— News Article

IVE’s Wonyoung for Miu Miu.

The post on the online forum soon gained over 70,000 views in just a day. With hundred chiming in on the debate, it seems that there is a negative sentiment surrounding idols endorsing luxury brands.

Netizens debate. | theqoo

• I feel like luxury goods aren’t luxury goods anymore now. Both the quality, after service, as well as how they treat customers… They should call them goods of lavish instead. And it’s a societal problem that these goods become trends amongst kids these days.
• So this is the problem that comes around when idols become ambassadors…
• This is why luxury brands choose younger people or people with name value for their models. They’re so evil.
• It’s no good to have minors as ambassadors. If they’re adults then it can’t be helped.
• They have to stop idols from doing this.
• Honestly it doesn’t seem like luxury goods because they give it out to influencers so easily. Even if I don’t have them, it looks like it’s so common. I don’t want it.
• Back in the day, even if a celebrity wore a t-shirt that costs ₩10,000 KRW (about $7.88 USD), it looked so cool and they sold out. Nowadays, they all wear brands. The world has changed.
• It’s alright for idols to be ambassadors, but the problem is how they talk it up, and also how they separate brands by levels amongst themselves, turning the industry’s atmosphere bad.
• This is why they call it “luxury…”

What are your thoughts?