NCT’s Renjun is following in the footsteps of his fellow member Taeyong and seemingly asking fans to boycott the Starbucks Korea x NCT collaboration.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the NCT’s collaboration with Starbucks Korea. A few days earlier, Starbucks dropped collaboration merch with NCT along with a special drink.
Fans expressed anger towards SM Entertainment for partnering with a brand that had supported genocide funding in Israel.
On May 30, Taeyong, the leader of NCT 127, publicly backed the fans’ stance and shared a post on social media using the term ‘boycott’, seemingly hinting at the boycott of a collab with Starbucks.
Renjun later posted an Instagram story on May 31 featuring the word ‘peace’, a coffee emoji, and a cross symbol, subtly suggesting that fans should consider boycotting Starbucks Korea’s collection.
Following the news of the collab, fans sent protest trucks to SM Entertainment HQ to show their discontent with the partnership.
NCTzens are thrilled to see the NCT members taking a stand, not promoting support for Starbucks Korea’s collection but instead advocating for boycotts.
This isn’t the first instance where fans have criticized K-pop entertainment companies for endorsing boycotted brands and disregarding fans’ preferences to not support these brands.
More recently, JYP Entertainment and HYBE have also previously faced criticism for working with boycotted brands amid the Israel-Gaza war.