Samsung và Fila distanced themselves from the K-pop band, becoming the latest example of multinational companies deferring to lớn Chinese patriotic sentiment.Bạn vẫn xem: gặp mặt là chiến season 6

A Fila ad showing the pop group BTS in Seoul, South Korea, on Monday. The band has been an ambassador for the sportswear brand since 2019.Credit...Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

It seemed an innocuous remark from a wildly popular boy band known more for its open-armed inclusiveness than for any overt provocation.

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But when the leader of the Korean pop group BTS acknowledged the shared suffering of Americans và Koreans during a recent ceremony commemorating the Korean War, internet users in trung quốc wasted no time registering their offense.

Chinese social truyền thông media filled with outrage that the BTS leader, Kim Nam-joon, who performs under the stage name RM (formerly Rap Monster), did not also recognize the sacrifices of the Chinese soldiers who fought on the side of North Korea.

Then came a familiar dance for multinational companies doing business in China: Two prominent brands removed any trace of their collaborations with the band on Chinese websites.

First, a glossy special-edition purple điện thoại cảm ứng thông minh made for BTS disappeared on Monday from Samsung’s Chinese website và other e-commerce platforms in the country.

Hours later, posts mentioning BTS appeared to lớn have been scrubbed from the official Weibo trương mục of Fila, the sportswear company. BTS has been a brand ambassador for Fila since 2019.

By Monday night, South Korean news outlets had reported that Hyundai Motor Group, the South Korean automaker, had removed advertisements và references khổng lồ BTS from its Chinese social media accounts. BTS released a song in August khổng lồ promote the launch of Ioniq, Hyundai’s line of electric vehicles, and had been a partner with the automaker since 2018. A đoạn clip advertisement featuring the group still appeared on Hyundai’s Chinese website as of Monday night.

The automaker had previously run into issues in china over different political tensions, when in 2017 sales dropped more than 60 percent there after South Korea strengthened its missile defense system in response to lớn nuclear testing in North Korea.

Their moves seemed intended to head off the potential for the kinds of boycotts và other angry steps that Chinese consumers have taken against brands deemed to have run afoul of patriotic sentiment.

“I’ve noticed related reports, & also the reaction of Chinese netizens,” he said when asked by reporters about the issue at a news briefing on Monday. “We should learn from history và look toward the future by cherishing peace và advancing our friendship.”

The Global Times, a fiercely nationalistic Chinese state tabloid, reported extensively about the BTS backlash, saying the group’s members should have recognized even the losses by an ally of their native country’s longtime enemy. The band’s comments, the tabloid said, reflected a “one-sided attitude” & “negated history.”

Jolly Liu, a 21-year-old medical student in Guangzhou, said she was reconsidering her tư vấn of the band. In a phone interview on Monday, she said she was angered by its comments, which she had learned about after watching a live-streamed video of a BTS concert on Saturday.

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“We can’t force them lớn have the same political views as us, but since you get our money and support over here, then you should take lưu ý of that & respect every country,” she said.

Others said they felt that the band members, as South Koreans, were entitled lớn their own views, though they perhaps should have kept quiet about it.

Qin Xiaxin, an mạng internet user in Wuhan, said in a phone interview on Monday that she felt proud that her grandfather had fought in the war against Americans and found BTS’s comments inappropriate, believing they should have avoided political issues.

“We are from two countries, so we will have our differences when we encounter issues involving the sovereignty of our respective countries. That is for certain,” she said. “Because there isn’t anyone who doesn’t love their country, right?”

Some said they had trouble seeing what was so offensive. Charlene Liu, a 21-year-old student in Shanghai, wrote on Weibo that it would be unnatural to lớn mention historical enemies during a war tribute.

“China và South Korea fought on opposite sides. Surely there wouldn’t be a single South Korean who would commemorate the war by thanking the Chinese,” she wrote on Sunday. “If the whole world has to lớn care about the feelings of the Chinese, couldn’t we also try to understand how Koreans feel?” (She added that she wasn’t a BTS fan.)

Samsung representatives in trung quốc and South Korea did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. Fila representatives did not immediately respond to lớn requests for comment, and when reached by telephone on Tuesday, a Hyundai representative in đài loan trung quốc had no comment. Big Hit Entertainment, the agency that manages BTS, did not immediately respond to lớn phone calls và emailed requests for comment.

The controversy comes just days before Big Hit is set to go public in Seoul in an initial public offering that is expected to value the company at up khổng lồ $4 billion.

BTS is just the latest in a long line of international celebrities and brands that have found themselves on the wrong side of China’s government and consumers.

Chinese state broadcasters stopped showing NBA games for a year after a team executive posted tư vấn on Twitter for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.

After Dolce & Gabbana released an ad containing stereotypes many found racist and offensive, Chinese social platforms were flooded with videos of consumers burning và destroying the fashion brand’s products.

Companies have also pulled products after state news outlets reported that they had hurt national pride. The luxury brands Coach, Givenchy & Versace apologized in 2019 for T-shirt designs that appeared lớn show Hong Kong as a separate territory, interpreted as undermining Chinese sovereignty.