K-netizens Note that Shinhan Bank is Now the Cursed Advertiser in South Korea After Three Consecutive Spokesmodels Cha Eun Woo, NewJeans, and Kim Soo Hyun Encounter Scandals
For a few years now Asian entertainment has noted that Italian couture house Prada appears to be the cursed advertisers with both Mainland Chinese and South Korean stars that rep the brand getting cancelled for various personal scandals. Now there is a domestic equivalent with Shinhan Bank seeing not one, or two, but three of its high profile star spokespersons getting into cancellable scandals. Girl group NewJeans has been embroiled in a contract termination dispute that was recently seemingly resolved but one member has been kicked out, and even if they go back to promoting their reputation was really damaged and they missed their window to get super popular. Then there was Kim Soo Hyun getting cancelled for allegations of dating a then underage Kim Sae Ron who later passed away. And most recently its spokesmodel Cha Eun Woo is under investigation for aan alleged massive tax evasion. If I were an SK celeb I would not take a rep call from this bank lol.
All of these scandals made me think of Australia in the 1980s and 1990s that had “tall poppy syndrome” – anyone who stood up too tall (i.e. became high profile and/or super wealthy) was ‘chopped’ down (some scandal, rumors , a shady past getting re-aired etc.). Basically it came down to jealously by the masses.
Seems it moved to Korea (changed a bit of course as its coming from a more ‘unauthentic’ or ‘extravagance’ perspective now).