Popular Brand Faces Backlash After Employee Leaks Private Photos of SEVENTEEN’s Mingyu

The controversy sparked when a SEVENTEEN staff member posted photos of Mingyu from a commercial shoot on their personal social media platform. These pictures included some that were considered too revealing, causing concern among fans.

The employee reminisced, “Mingyu was the one who appeared in the majority of my photo album… I was too anxious to delete them, but perhaps it is time for me to begin organizing them now…”

The privacy violation of Mingyu sparked outrage among fans, leading to the rapid trending of hashtags calling for better protection for the idol.

u know what’s really sick about this is he’s genuinely nice and respectful to everyone he works with but some of y’all just take advantage of him so easily https://t.co/Ai61vkcwXd

— jeonghan’s arm mole (@ggyusclues) September 2, 2024

L’Occitane responded by releasing an official statement that addressed the situation.

We deeply regret the recent incident involving the unauthorized release of photos from the L’Occitane Asia Ambassador campaign, which were improperly shared on the personal social media account of one of our employees. As L’Occitane Korea, we take full responsibility for this breach and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused. We understand that there is no justification for this action and are committed to preventing similar incidents from happening in the future.

We acknowledge the severity of this matter and sincerely apologize for any distress it has caused to the artist and their fans. We are taking immediate and strict disciplinary measures, including the complete removal of the employee in question from all duties and their suspension.

In order to avoid similar incidents in the future, we will establish a comprehensive and ongoing training program for all staff members. This program will highlight the utmost importance of upholding the copyrights, portrait rights, publicity rights, and privacy of our brand ambassador.

To ensure that all employees fully comprehend and abide by these principles, we will approach this process with a strong sense of accountability. We deeply regret the incident and take full responsibility. Our sincere apologies go out to the artist and all the fans once again.

Korean netizens shared their bewilderment and dissatisfaction, wondering about the reason behind the employee keeping these photos on their phone. They remarked, “Why would they post this on their SNS for the public to view…isn’t this a form of sexual harassment towards Mingyu?””Some individuals failed to see the issue, but when I asked them to imagine a female idol in this situation, their stance quickly shifted.””Please consider the consequences before taking any action…”

L’Occitane has issued an apology after one of their staff members was found to have taken inappropriate photos of Seventeen’s Mingyu.