After Prada, this brand can be considered as the most unlucky brand in the entertainment industry in 2021
If in the international market, PRADA continues to experience negative issues related to its representative, there is also a brand in Korea that suffers from the same situation. That is CLIO – the holding company of two cosmetic brands CLIO and Peripera. They recently had a negative coincidence: Two of their current and upcoming representatives, Hyunjin (Stray Kids) and Soojin ((G) I-DLE) were both accused of bullying at school.
Currently, many Kpop idols are being accused of bullying at school, but Soojin and Hyunjin were the first to be severely criticized. Unfortunately for cosmetics company CLIO when Stray Kids is the representative for CLIO, Soojin was chosen as the next representative for Peripera. This leads the company to face a complicated situation.
Originally, Peripera planned to reveal their new agent on March 1, 2021. They even displayed promotional photos of the female idol in stores. However, as soon as the news broke out, Peripera had to cover these images in all stores. Next, they also wiped out posts ‘teasing’ the new representative – Soojin on social media platforms.
Hyunjin’s case is even worse because Stray Kids is still the representative for CLIO. After the scandal broke out, even though Hyunjin and JYP apologized, that could not save the male idol’s image in the eyes of netizens. For that reason, CLIO deleted any posts related to Stray Kids on their social media platforms, even though the rest of the group made no mistake.
In addition, it is also necessary to cite one more detail that the cosmetics company CLIO, in general, is in great trouble. Not only the current representative (Hyunjin), the upcoming representative (Soojin) but even the former representative, Naeun (April), has also been accused of bullying the same group member. Currently, Naeun is out of contract with CLIO, but because the new representative has not been announced, her scandal is also negatively affecting the brand. However, it is not clear whether the brand will consider solving Naeun’s case.
In a statement from CLIO‘s strategic planning team, assistant team leader Jo Young Joo explained that the brand is in “panic” due to the controversy: “We are in a panic as well, as factors we did not consider at all during model selection, became the center of a controversy. However, it is a relief that we took down advertisement posts shortly after the controversies broke out, so profits were not affected.”
However, according to industry insiders, brand ambassadors must preserve their image for the duration of the advertising contract. If the private life allegations come true, brands can pursue lawsuits as well as demand a refund of the contract.
A prime example is a Korean car brand that has invited comedian Lee Soogeun to be a promoter. However, Lee Soogeun was involved in illegal gambling in 2014. The brand later filed a lawsuit demanding the actor pay 2 billion won of compensation to the company. Lee Soogeun has to pay up to 700 million won to compensate the brand after that.
As for CLIO, the strategic planning team, assistant team leader Jo Young Joo provided the company’s response regarding the lawsuit. Jo Young Joo said that although they cannot reveal every part of the agency contract if the bullying argument is proven to be true, the brand will consider pursuing a lawsuit involving model fees and advertising royalties. This also means that CLIO is willing to sue Stray Kids and Soojin ((G) I-DLE) if they really violated the contract with their private life controversy.
Up to now, Cube and JYP have not responded to CLIO’s recent statement.
