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On Wednesday, December 20, HYBE's upcoming boy group, TWS, also known as Twenty-Four-Seven With Us, was officially confirmed to be debuting under Pledis Entertainment. A teaser accompanied the confirmation by HYBE as well.
In the teaser, the group's official name, slogan, and logo were revealed. While fans were initially excited about the upcoming boy group debut, their slogan angered and upset many ENGENEs (ENHYPEN's fandom). In the teaser, the group's name was directly associated with 'Always Connected' and this slogan was also repeated in their other forms of marketing, such as the gift box of TWS' character Plushie that several HYBE groups posted about.
Given that ENHYPEN's slogan, which the members created themselves, also deals with the theme of 'Connection', fans were angered by the similarity to the Bite Me group's introductory phrase.
ENHYPEN's slogan was revealed to be '1, 2, Connect', a few weeks after their debut back in 2020. With HYBE announcing a slogan or trademark phrase similar to 'Connect', fans have been calling out both HYBE Labels and Pledis Entertainment for allegedly copying ENHYPEN.
Fans divided as speculations of HYBE's upcoming boy group, TWS' alleged copy of ENHYPEN's slogan lands on the internet
It was recently speculated that HYBE will be launching a new K-pop boy group, naturally exciting the K-pop fandom. When it was revealed on December 20 that the group would be debuting as the first-ever boy group of Pledis Entertainment since SEVENTEEN's debut in 2015, fans' expectations grew all the more.
Additionally, HYBE has also been creating much anticipation around the group, TWS' debut through its artists. Several HYBE K-pop groups such as TXT, LE SSERAFIM, etc., took to their X account to post about TWS' character plushie, which was created in commemoration of the upcoming debut. Upon seeing the artists cheer for the group's debut, fans have been consistently sharing their excitement on social media.
However, fans were upset when TWS' marketing slogan, 'Always Connected' bearing similarities to ENHYPEN's introductory slogan, '1, 2, Connect' was unveiled recently. Considering that the slogan was created by the members, Jungwon, Jay, Ni-ki, and Heesung, symbolizing the group's career and hard work in many ways, netizens took to social media platforms to air their grievances.
Many ENGENEs criticized and called out HYBE Labels for allegedly copying ENHYPEN's trademark. However, some people came in defense of the upcoming boy group and stated that their actual tagline, "24/7 WITH US, TO US," doesn't include the word 'Connect'. Fans were nonetheless still upset at the usage of the word 'Connect' in their marketing events, such as the plushie gift box reveal and the announcement video teaser.
Regardless, many netizens continued to defend the group by stating that there were very few keywords to create their trademark phrase, and it would lead to plagiarism speculations about one group or another.
