- calendar_today August 23, 2025
Coca-Cola Deal Lands V in Hot Water Over Palestine Solidarity Silence
After being announced as the new face of Coca-Cola Zero in South Korea, a member of the BTS, Kim Taehyung, who is known by ARMYs all over the world as V, has received harsh criticism from fans of the group as well as people from the wider international community.
BTS’ V had recently been promoted as the face of Coca-Cola Zero and has been targeted by the fans for his “tone deaf” decision to do so during a genocide in Gaza
On July 31, Coca-Cola Korea released a new set of promotional material under the slogan #BestCokeEver, which heavily features BTS’ V as its lead actor. The visuals are surrounded by a promotional post teasing V’s appearance, accompanied by the full reveal of his brand endorsement as the new face of the soft drink in South Korea, replacing his label mates and fellow HYBE artists, the K-Pop girl group NewJeans.
On July 31, BTS’ V was revealed as the new face of Coca-Cola Zero as part of the company’s latest campaign. Fans criticized the decision, with some saying it was “tone deaf” and “deeply disappointing” for the group to be involved with a company that is listed in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, list.
Celebrity endorsements of the world’s largest brands are not exactly uncommon in today’s environment, but in the case of V’s recent deal, the company has seen it quickly blow up into an international political firestorm with all eyes turned to South Korea to see if BTS would address the issue at hand.
Acting in Gaza or Silence
BTS members have developed a particular public image over the years that ARMYs would naturally expect to see followed by all of its members equally, and a gap between how BTS has been perceived by many over the years and V’s new promotional activities has been seen by fans as a catalyst for the recent backlash.
Members of BTS have called out discrimination against Asians in the past and have also publicly shown support for the Black Lives Matter movement
In the past, BTS has made no qualms about speaking out about several international issues, including on more than one occasion having made public criticisms of anti-Asian discrimination. Members have also participated in demonstrations and made public statements of support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Members of BTS have been silent, though, about the crisis in Gaza and the humanitarian issues faced there. When it comes to Israel and the West Bank, however, where the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is seen to have taken place, the group as a whole has been more reserved in their opinion, and it is this silence that has been pounced on by some fans with V’s Coca-Cola deal.
V was criticized in the past for posting about McDonald’s as well, after facing backlash over his decision to promote Coke Zero.
V’s decision to work with Coca-Cola has, however, not been the first time he has become embroiled in a controversy about brand choices that have been at odds with his public image. As recently as last year, the singer was targeted by international fans over an Instagram post that showed a picture of McDonald’s fries on his table.
McDonald’s is another international brand that has been heavily criticized by pro-Palestine and BDS organizations for its operations in Israel, and some have seen V’s new promotion with Coca-Cola as doubling down on the behavior that he had previously been criticized for.
The Charge Against Coca-Cola
Behind V’s criticism, there is a broader, global storm of controversy that has been aimed at Coca-Cola itself, and the company’s recent actions and activities have in turn been used to justify fans’ outrage over BTS’ V taking on the promotional role.
In 2024 received criticism from pro-Palestine groups for an advert in Bangladesh.
In 2024, Coca-Cola came under fire from a number of activists and online communities for an advert it had run in Bangladesh, where the company denied having any relationship to Israel. This was quickly challenged by pro-Palestine activists and Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) groups with the discovery of a publicly available corporate listing for Coca-Cola Israel, which activists and watchdog groups had detailed as having multiple operations in Israeli-occupied territories.
Research groups such as WhoProfits, which have extensively detailed the complicity of many major international companies in the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine and other territories, have detailed Coca-Cola’s alleged operations in the Atarot Settlement Industrial Zone, an area in the occupied West Bank noted in the research as illegal under international law.
On its website the company lists Tabor Winery which it claims is “managed by the Rishon Vineyard” as one of the properties it owns in the area and with further accusations that the winery has been sourcing grapes from both the occupied West Bank and the Syrian Golan Heights, Coca-Cola has become the target of many ongoing boycotts for its activities.
