#BestCokeEver Campaign Turns Sour for V Over Gaza Controversy

BTS V, whose real name is Kim Taehyung, has been hit with backlash after he was announced to be the new face of Coca-Cola Zero in the country.

The singer was to join forces with Coca-Cola on July 31 but the fans were quick to react on social media. The boyband member has been criticized for being “tone deaf” and “deeply disappointing”, to name a few, following the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip and the company being listed on the BDS list.

The newest commercial from the South Korean boyband’s V arrived today, being released under the hashtag #BestCokeEver.

The hashtag #BestCokeEver was used by the drinks company Coke in the launch of their newest partnership with none other than the artist himself. After a mysterious advert full of light and V, they finally revealed that he would be replacing the HYBE label sister group, NewJeans, as the new face of the drink.

We know it’s a thing where celebs represent companies on a large scale, but this particular one for some reason or another has turned into a political discussion.

In recent days, V and his group, BTS have been vocal in their support of the BLM movement, yet their fans are missing any sort of acknowledgement towards the Gaza crisis. The group have notably not shared anything supporting Palestine or condemned the attacks.

The problem is particularly harrowing when you consider that Taehyung, and his labelmate J-Hope, have come under fire for choosing to represent brands that do business with Israeli companies.

Taehyung was also hit with some controversy in 2023, due to him sharing a casual picture of McDonald’s fries, a product of one of the biggest fast food chains. Fast forward one year and we find that Taehyung has managed to rile up fans once more, thanks to his new partnership.

Coke too have not been strangers to similar controversies and claims of being banned and in fact, it was also claimed that a 2024 Coke advert in Bangladesh had Israeli claims denied by the company. However, once again an Israeli Coke advert was found in the illegal settlements and immediately after their previous claims.

As a result of the past claims that Coke has made on their products not being Israeli owned, a group called WhoProfits spoke out on their findings. The research centre found evidence that showed that Coca-Cola Israel, owned 4.19% of its factories in the Atarot Settlement Industrial Zone, and most importantly, these factories were illegal under international law.

The findings also noted that Coke’s Tabor Winery sources its grapes from the occupied West Bank and Syrian Golan Heights, which is more than enough for the group to have been targeted for boycott.

While V has faced some previous backlashes from fans for his brand choices, the new one has appeared to rile up the fandom more than before, with many fans taking to social media to call for his boycott from the brand and end to the deal.

Fans have been rather vocal about their disgust, with some tweets including:

“Dear Taehyung BTS, Coca Cola has been operating on the stolen land of the Palestinians, some of whom are your ARMYs. Please don’t work with and promote its products. Please educate yourself. Cancel the endorsement and stand with humanity.”

The ARMY have also gone as far as to say that they will be canceling the entire group for not speaking up in support of Palestine and they have said as much.

Overall, the fans have not been shy with their frustrations towards V and his group, particularly those that are international, as their ARMY includes those from Palestine.

An unfortunate situation indeed that a seemingly innocent advertisement and decision to support a brand could turn into such a public issue.