Fans say #GiselleDeservesBetter as aespa member’s repeated mistreatment come to light

aespa’s fans are rallying against SM Entertainment, demanding better treatment for the group’s maknae, Giselle, after yet another incident of her unfair treatment surfaced online. On September 13, fans discovered that the maknae rapper was missing from the solo teasers added in the group’s Instagram highlights for Girls.

Twitter user, @minxagi, screen-recorded the Girls highlights section to expose the alleged mistreatment to fellow fans. The highlights contain all three versions of the concept teasers with Winter, Karina, Ningning and Giselle’s pictures and videos. It also includes a majority of their promotional activities with direct links.

However, fans found that Giselle’s solo concept teasers of the KWANGYA version were missing. Solo photos of all three members made it to the highlights, with the exception of the maknae.

With the increasing mistreatment of the 21-year-old rapper, fans demanded equal promotions for the youngest aespa member. To bring the issue to light, they trended #GiselleDeservesBetter on Twitter.

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Fans list the number of times aespa’s Giselle suffered at the expense of brands and agencies

According to fans, aespa’s Korean-Japanese member Giselle has been facing a lack of representation and promotions for a few years now.

By trending #GiselleDeservesBetter on Twitter, fans wished to get SM Entertainment’s attention, informing them that they are not mere spectators of the alleged mistreatment. The 21-year-old rapper missing from the Girls highlight section was one of numerous such incidents that have surfaced in the past.

Earlier this year, in January, SM Town & Store’s official Seoul Instagram account posted My Artist Card Pick merch information. The picture showed the things fans could expect in the pack.

The initial image showed only three members and excluded the Japanese-Korean rapper. This left fans fuming, especially because aespa is a four-piece act.

The post in question was later deleted. The company then posted a picture with all four members. However, fans continued to criticize the agency in the comment section.

SM Town & Store Seoul's revised post (Image via Instagram/smtownandstore_seoul)

In another incident, a firework went off right in front of the rapper on stage, giving her a severe jolt. While the entire group looked startled, fans were concerned that the firework was placed right at the spot where the youngest member was standing.

Giselle later texted on the fan-artist platform Bubble to share that they were not informed about the fireworks at all.

While these were directly connected to SM Entertainment, some brands and news publications have also completely cut off the maknae from their posts or have given her the smallest amount of screen time.

The latest example is the luxury brand Chopard. In their 30-second video featuring aespa, the maknae’s on screen time was just one second.

One fan said that Chopard was the latest addition to the list of “Giselle’s mistreatment enabler club” which includes CLIO, MLB Korea, Mediheal and others. These brands have also come under the radar for not giving the maknae fair treatment.

Since brand collaborations only take place after the agencies give the go-ahead, fans were visibly upset with SM Entertainment for not taking any action against them or even taking steps to prevent it.

Numerous fans took to social media to express their support for the 21-year-old rapper. Many also cited past instances of unfair treatment doled out to her.

While the accusations of mistreatment continue to gain traction, SM Entertainment has remained silent about the issue. At the time of writing this article, no official statement addressing the allegations had been released by the agency.