BDS Movement Targets V Over Coca-Cola Ad in South Korea

BTS member V (Kim Taehyung) is the new face of Coca-Cola Zero (Coke Zero) in South Korea, causing controversy over being on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) list over the genocide in Gaza.

On July 31 at 7 PM KST, Coca-Cola Korea released a teaser for the seventh volume of the “Best Coke Ever” campaign. The company officially confirmed it with the Vending Ambassador Lee Han Yeol announcing BTS member V as the new face of Coke Zero, replacing the girl group NewJeans, the official promotional ambassador of the advertising campaign in South Korea under the hashtag #BestCokeEver. Nevertheless, V has caused a lot of controversy over BTS’ alleged inaction in Gaza, which has already started, and for a long time, a conflict in which Israel has massacred the Palestinians.

However, unlike previous controversies surrounding the conflict, a list of brands with assets in Israeli-occupied territories has long been put out by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) for the boycott of Israel.

In 2024, many people reacted with “tone deafness” that the brand joined by BTS member V, Coca-Cola (Coke), which had an Israeli boycott on the BDS list, denied its connection with Israel in an advertisement released in Bangladesh, but it was quickly refuted by activists.

The social media post showed:

“Dear Taehyung, BTS, Coca Cola has been operating on the stolen land of the Palestinians, some of whom are your ARMY. Please don’t work with and promote its products. Please educate yourself. Cancel the endorsement and stand with humanity.”

The situation only got worse when compared to the fact that last year, BTS member V was heavily criticized by international ARMYs, which is not his usual fandom, for the fact that he ate McDonald’s fries and just posted a picture on social media. While the McDonald’s in question was local, it is still a global franchise that international ARMYs are well aware of and have been boycotting because of Israel.

Coca-Cola came under pressure from Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) groups over its Israeli operations last month. In an advert released in Bangladesh, the company denied having any connections to Israel. But activists soon pushed back, stating that Coca-Cola Israel has been documented as operating in Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land.

A website run by a research centre, WhoProfits, which tracks commercial enterprises that operate in or benefit from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, said Coca-Cola Israel is part of a bottling plant in the Atarot Settlement Industrial Zone. Settlements on occupied Palestinian land are illegal under international law.

A WhoProfits page on Coca-Cola Israel also claims the company’s Tabor Winery “sources its grapes from the occupied West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights,” one of a series of boycott lists the campaign has released in recent months targeting products including apple juice, eggs, and cheese.

Popular beverage and food brands are not new to boycotts. Activists from pro-Palestinian movements, including BDS groups, have long called for boycotts of many brands sold in supermarkets, such as Ben & Jerry’s and Heinz.

One report in 2021 about a Palestine Solidarity Campaign initiative stated that Coca-Cola “exports its products from illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which form part of Israel’s prison system for the Palestinian people.”

Coca-Cola is a common target for pro-Palestine boycott campaigns, which began in 2021 as war with Israel in Gaza intensified and hundreds of Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks.

On the other hand, the reactions of the international ARMYs who are in favor of boycotting Israel were ruthless, with many saying, “The best pop star ever is BTS, but he is a very bad international celebrity when it comes to moral standards.”

For BTS member V, who has previously been targeted for similar reasons, albeit on a smaller scale, the social media response has been blistering, with many fans calling for him not to work with the brand.

As BTS is considered to have made a mistake as it does not have the right to keep silent with its claim of speaking out, the relationship with the international ARMY is also expected to become very thick, but V and his agency have not given any response yet.

The controversy comes after BTS has long been praised by ARMYs for its efforts to raise awareness and promote equality, including speaking out against the discrimination against Asians. The group has also made a number of public statements in support of Black Lives Matter in the past.

The group has largely kept quiet on the issue of Gaza; however, even before the war in Gaza began, the group’s relationship with international armies was not considered to have been at its best, as it has long been the case in many international situations.