On May 26 KST, ADOR issued a warning against “unauthorized fan accounts attempting to collect the personal information of individual fans based on the pretext of a demand survey,” indirectly calling out NewJeans’s unofficial fan club, known as Team Bunnies.
Earlier this week, ‘Indomie Mi Goreng’ announced an exclusive NewJeans pop-up store being held from May 1-13 in Sungsu-dong at Sungsu Station exit #3. Soon after the announcement, Team Bunnies revealed that it would be hosting a demand survey for online orders of the special pop-up store postcard set, unveiling photos of the postcard set as well as photos of the pop-up store for the first time.
At first, many fans were confused by the pop-up store announcement, as NewJeans is currently on an unofficial hiatus from their group promotions as a result of their ongoing legal dispute against ADOR. The confusion escalated when Team Bunnies, which has consistently shown support for the members of NewJeans rather than ADOR, became involved in the pop-up store promotions.
NewJeansSTRM
In response, ADOR stated on April 26 KST,
“Hello, this is ADOR.
The members of NewJeans are currently affiliated with ‘Indomie’ as the brand’s official advertisement models. The upcoming pop-up store is being hosted by a partner company after prior approval from ADOR.
However, ADOR would like to clarify that the agency has not engaged in any communications with fan accounts, such as requesting fan accounts to promote the pop-up event or collect information about consumer demand.
And yet, we have confirmed that some unauthorized fan accounts and fan communities are attempting to collect personal information about fans under the pretext of a demand survey.
At this time, we ask fans to exercise caution so that none incur damages due to this recent incident.
Thank you.”
Based on the statement above, it’s evident that ADOR indirectly called out Team Bunnies, while also warning individual fans from giving away their information to “unauthorized fan accounts”.
Some netizens similarly expressed their concerns over an unofficial fan club such as Team Bunnies becoming involved in NewJeans’s official activities through ADOR, while others claimed that it was ‘Indomie’ which reached out to Team Bunnies first.
Team Bunnies has yet to reveal its official position after ADOR’s latest statement.
