KQ Entertainment Is Accused Of Plagiarizing Stray Kids’ Merch, Leading To Debate

KQ Entertainment is being accused of plagiarizing one of Stray Kids‘ most identifiable merchandise items.

Stray Kids | JYP Entertainment

After “God’s Menu” was released in 2021, JYP Entertainment released a music video featuring cartoon characters. These characters, called SKZOO, were designated to each member based on their characteristics.

Since then, SKZOO have become the official mascots of the group, with multiple merchandise items featuring the characters being released, including different-sized plushies. JYP Entertainment even created clothing specifically designed for these plush figures. 

| JYP Enrtertainment Stray Kids’ Bang Chan with his SKZOO character, Wolf Chan.

 

Now, KQ Entertainment has been accused of plagiarizing SKZOOs by introducing ATEEZ‘s own animal-based characters.

On January 29, ATEEZ’s official X account posted a mysterious teaser featuring eight blacked-out figures, revealing profile photos of ANITEEZ, ATEEZ’s animal characters, around two hours later.

[] We are the SAME
⠀#ATEEZ #에이티즈 pic.twitter.com/qWQS4LEPPq

— ATEEZ(에이티즈) (@ATEEZofficial) January 29, 2024

| KQ Entertainment

Fans reacted with a lot of excitement over the cute characters, thinking about all of the possibilities for future content and merch.

this so cuteeeee!!!#ATEEZ #Aniteez pic.twitter.com/zd0PnuN29N

— ????????????????♡#???? ????????????'???? ???????????????????? (@STradestika) January 29, 2024

imagine them making a 10cm doll of aniteez like they did with their birthday mds pic.twitter.com/cnCGWkhujF

— lea #1 ribo (@KHJBASE) January 29, 2024

anyway aniteez r so cute and I'm excited for whatever they will bring ! pic.twitter.com/aBjRLSPx4f

— wooyo_gaming (@m_seoulgracias) January 29, 2024

However, some netizens felt ANITEEZ too closely resembled SKZOO and their concept.

now imagine if skzoo released later than all of this. skz gonna be in everyone fucking mouth. yall should know which fandom will making a fucking thread of plagiarism https://t.co/qFYeHjOijm

— 랑랑 (@922seung) January 30, 2024

like pic.twitter.com/hJECEreNiL

— ♡︎ (@gucciknows) January 29, 2024

It’s not a crime to have animals plushy representing members, but you can’t get mad that stays are calling out the similarities cause Puppym looks identical

— Beauté Bang (@Leebittit) January 29, 2024

On the other hand, some have stated that having animal-representative characters is not a new concept and has existed for more than a decade, citing other characters, including those made by JYP Entertainment for other groups. Fan-made dolls of idols appearing as their assigned animal counterparts have also existed for many years.

2PM’s representative animals | JYP Entertainment 

bfr every single kpop group has their designed animal plushies, no one is copying your fucking group https://t.co/AYc89FfgO2 pic.twitter.com/uOCjOWIz62

— ???? pameᵛ (@firstlovedejun) January 29, 2024

Fans of both groups also fought against fan wars, expressing excitement over the two sets of characters and sharing fan art featuring them.

stray kids and ateez are friends & skzoo and aniteez are adorable, stay mad pic.twitter.com/krIHX4X3eq

— changbin (@pookiechangbin) January 30, 2024

Wrong bunny! pic.twitter.com/OS9AwXZtd1

— iree (@ohprcr) January 29, 2024

98 line bunnies ????????
they're like lil marshmallows to me#aniteez #skzoo pic.twitter.com/OamQL8eVQX

— ♡ kat ♡ (@angeIix_) January 29, 2024