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On August 28, “global fandom platform for fans worldwide that love K-pop artists and Korean actors,” U-Pick announced that BTS fans had helped the sensational septet secure their favourite music act an advertisement video by scoring a victory in the fan-voted ‘Best K-pop Global Idol Group’ poll.
The voting contest initially launched a war of K-pop fandoms, as fans earnestly dove into voting sprees to win the opportunity for the following groups: EXO, BTS, ENHYPEN, WayV, SEVENTEEN, ZEROBASEONE, NCT WISH, RIIZE, PLAVE and &TEAM. It was formally unveiled that the commercial board would be installed at a subway station in Seoul, South Korea, featuring a video of the winning group.
Staggering voting numbers ultimately led BTS to land a favourable advertisement spot at Yeouido station from September 20 to October 4. However, with the all-rounder global idol group’s member Suga embroiled in a drunk-driving episode, things did not go entirely as fans hoped.
The final draft of the commercial board was released on September 9, and instead of revelling in the feat they had achieved for their beloved artists, the BTS ARMYs took up arms against the U-Pick platform, which essentially compels you to install its app to punch in votes for your favourites.
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U-Pick finalised BTS’ Seoul subway station advertisement sans Suga
The video to be featured at the Seoul subway station meticulously rolls out a well-crafted edit, compiling each member’s identity and role in the group, except one. Introducing BTS as the ‘Best Global Idol Group,’ the advertisement goes on to brand RM as the ‘BTS Leader,’ ‘Best Rapper’ and one of the ‘Idols with Excellent Artistry.’ With Jin’s turn, the group’s eldest member is praised as ‘Our Universe Jin,’ his classic moniker ‘World Wide Handsome’ and ‘Silver Voice Vocalist.’
Meanwhile, J-Hope is labelled the ‘Genius Dancer,’ ‘Freestyle and Street Dance Genius’ and ‘Our Sunshine.’ Jimin is described as the ‘Best Dancer,’ King of K-pop’, and ‘One and Only Fairy Voice.’ V’s identifying markers are listed as ‘Soft Husky Voice,’ ‘Actor and Singer V’ and ‘Best Visual Idol.’ Lastly, Jungkook is highly praised as ‘A Dancer who Fascinates the Whole World,’ ‘BTS Lead Vocal Jungkook’ and ‘Golden Visual Idol.’
Ideally, Suga’s name should’ve been included before J-Hope’s, per the group’s usual chant chronology. However, the clip completely omits any mentions of the second-eldest member of the group.
Global fandom platform responds to fans’ fuming rage
BTS ARYMs didn’t take this lightly and called out the platform for willfully ignoring Suga’s presence, asserting, “BTS is 7.” The commonly reiterating keyphrase on social media once again gained momentum on X/Twitter. U-Pick officials were compelled to address the issue at hand, which they did without actually naming Suga or BTS in their statement.
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Read U-Pick’s statement after the debacle:
“Hello, this is UPICK.
Recently, we received a new guide from the advertising media organisation.
In accordance with the guidelines, we have been informed that exposure of certain members in videos that fans have so lovingly created is not possible.
We have continued to convey our opinions to the media from the fans’ perspective, but we have repeatedly received responses that exposure is not possible.
Currently, we are continuing to coordinate with advertising media organisation regarding the possible scope and will announce the final situation as soon as possible.
We would like to inform you that the above exposure impossibility has nothing to do with UPICK’s opinion.
We will continue to do its best to provide services based on the fans’ valuable opinions and perspectives.
Thank you.”
Fans stand united under the ‘7 or Nothing’ clause
Dozens of BTS fans unanimously agreed that U-Pick should drop the advertisement feature entirely or include all seven members. “1- said guide should be on your website -which is not-
2- if you’re not going to publish the ad of the original draft with all 7 members on it, then remove it altogether.
Your lack of transparency has caused you the loss of a whole fandom of users,” someone wrote on X. Another one chimed in: “You are unprofessional. Don’t blame others. IT’S 7 OR NOTHING.”
A third fumed: “No. If it is isn’t 7, we do not want the ad. BTS won this award placement as a group. Any exclusion of a member is not advisable from army. No generous understanding will be extended from army until Suga is added.
UPICK ADD SUGA
BTS IS 7.”
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Numerous others even called for legal action against U-Pick. “Fun fact @UPICK_twt did you know that misleading advertisement can result in a fine of up to 150 million KRQ or two years in prison. You dont want to play this game with us. We voted for BTS as a group and that group includes SUGA. You removing him is false advertisement.”
Simultaneously, a Global ARMY Union Statement, representing 127 divisions of the fandom around the world, was also linked as a strong response under multiple threads.
The U-Pick vs ARMYs chaos coincidentally aligned with the BTS global ARMY issuing a collective statement statement over the weekend. In the wake of Suga’s DUI controversy last month, per which Suga reportedly fell off his electric scooter while riding it near his home, BTS fans slammed the actions of certain people claiming to be the group’s ardent followers in an attempt to tarnish the community’s image elsewhere.
“The BTS ARMY is a vast fandom based around the world, yet a small number of people have recently released statements through the media claiming opinions that are contrary to the beliefs of the overwhelming majority of ARMY,” the statement read.
“Despite ARMY’s opposition to this imperious behaviour, they continue to act against the fandom’s wishes while using ARMY’s name. It was further revealed that fans of other groups organised these actions. Therefore, we would like to clarify our position as the Global ARMY Alliance both domestically and internationally.”
Again, this lengthy message did not directly allude to the Suga case, but it heavily implied the undertones by emphasising that the Global ARMY Alliance “support all members of BTS.”
More about BTS Suga’s DUI scandal
In a handwritten apology note, Suga wrote on August 25: “In the process of setting up an electric kickboard at the front door of the house, I fell alone, and there was a police officer around me, so I took a breath test.”
The BTS rapper’s license was suspended after the police found his blood-alcohol content to be 0.227, staggeringly higher than the 0.008 level.
However, that’s not all. Several mainstream Korean media sites blew up the story out of sorts, reporting unconfirmed details that were eventually shot down as “fake news.” JTBC even apologised for “causing confusion” after releasing footage allegedly featuring Suga driving a scooter on a road at night. Contrarily, the police later revealed that the ‘93 liner was actually riding his electric vehicle on a footpath.
In the meantime, a certain group of netizen armies pushed for Suga’s removal from the K-pop group. However, ardent BTS ARMYs vowed to support all seven members of the band.
