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Popular Gen 4 girl group NewJeans' collab with McDonald's has run into hot water with K-pop fans over the fast food outlet's public support of Israel in the Israel-Palestine war. For those unversed, McDonald's announced a special collaboration with Hype Boy singers back in June to create a brand new celebrity meal and sell it for a limited period of time.
Over the years, McDonald's has collaborated with several international popstars to launch specially curated celebrity meals for a limited time, and after collaborating with BTS in 2021, McDonald's has collaborated with the Hype Boy singers as their second K-pop collaboration.
Although, NewJeans' collaboration with McDonald's was announced in June, K-pop fans are calling for a boycott now as McDonald's has publicly spoken in favor of Israel amidst the ongoing Israel-Palestine war, enraging K-pop fans.
K-pop fans have rallied together to showcase their support for Palestine in this ongoing war and are boycotting companies and brands that are publicly supporting Israel.
NewJeans' collab with McDonald's sparks heated debate amongst K-pop fans online
McDonald's announced their special collaboration with NewJeans' in June to launch their special celebrity meals. The campaign would span across 10 different regions in Asia to promote their signature chicken, McNuggets, and burgers, including the McDonald's version of Korea's sweet, spicy, and tangy fried chicken.
The special meal included interesting packaging with the group's logo and bunnies drawn across it. Lucky fans also had the chance to win NewJeans' merchandise like photo cards and stickers of their favourite members.
Although, the collaboration was launched back in June, McDonald's extensively is continuing to promote this special collaboration five years after its initial launch. One might owe it to NewJeans' ever-increasing popularity, but the majority of K-pop fans believe it is due to the major public backlash.
Amidst the ongoing Israel-Palestine war, McDonald's publically voiced their support for Israel and promised to provide free meals to Israeli soldiers, irked citizens across the world, who deemed it as a disrespectful and insensitive move towards Palestine.
Since then, most citizens have been urging one another to boycott McDonald's products, and K-pop fans believe the fast-food chain is now desperately trying to appeal to Bunnies (NewJeans) fans in trying to improve their sales, brand reputation, and image.
Amidst this, K-pop fans have engaged in a heated debate online regarding NewJeans' collab with McDonald's. While some fans believe it is important to hold all parties accountable and boycott NewJeans' collab with McDonald's to show solidarity for Palestine.
Others believe there is no point doing this now as the collaboration was originally done in June and would have no real impact at this point. Fans also urged one another not to hate on the Ditto singers as they are at no fault here.
Additionally, K-pop fans are publically calling for a boycott on ENHYPEN's new song Sweet Venom with singer Bella Poarch as she shows her support for Israel in the ongoing conflict.
Furthermore, fans intend to boycott BTS' Monuments: Beyond The Star documentary premiering on Disney+ next month as Disney has publically voiced their support for Israel as well.
NewJeans' Get Up continues to enjoy massive success on the Billboard 200 chart
The OMG singers are enjoying unprecedented success with their latest album Get Up ranking high on Billboard 200. For the week ending on November 4, it ranked at number 98 on the aforementioned chart.
Get Up is now the first album by a female K-pop act to spend 14 consecutive weeks in the top 100 of the Billboard 200 chart. With this, the Super Shy singers have overtaken BLACKPINK's BORN PINK to be declared as the second longest-charting K-pop girl group album in Billboard 200 history.
Notably, BLACKPINK continues to hold the number one rank with their first full-length album THE ALBUM which charted for 26 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.
Neither HYBE, ADOR nor McDonald's have commented on the ongoing controversy yet.
