French luxury brand L’Occitane is under fire after one of its employees allegedly leaked inappropriate and private photos of K-pop star Seventeen’s Mingyu, which were taken during an ad shoot.
On September 3, South Korean media outlet Herald Pop reported that the employee in question had been suspended, and the popular brand’s Korean division had issued an official apology.
L’Occitane Korea accepted full responsibility, stating on its SNS profile, “We sincerely apologize for the recent incident involving the unauthorized release of photos from the L’Occitane Asia Ambassador campaign, which were improperly distributed on the personal social media account of one of our employees. We acknowledge that there is no excuse for this violation and we accept full responsibility for what happened.”
“We take this matter extremely seriously, and we deeply regret the inconvenience caused to the artist and all fans. We offer them our deepest apologies.”
The luxury brand also confirmed that the employee responsible for the outrage has been “completely removed from all duties, and immediate disciplinary action (suspension) has been implemented.”
To prevent such incidents from recurring, L’Occitane will “implement a comprehensive and regular training program for all employees.”
“This program will emphasize the vital importance of respecting the copyrights, portrait rights, publicity rights and privacy of our brand ambassadors.”
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“We will ensure that every employee fully understands and abides by these principles, and we will approach this process with a strong sense of responsibility,” the statement further said.
However, fans were not satisfied that the employee was suspended from his position. Local reports revealed that the L’Occitane employee had leaked photos of SEVENTEEN Mingyu on his personal social media profile with the caption, “Mingyu took up most of my photo album… I couldn’t delete them because I was nervous. I guess I should take care of it now.”
The Korean branch of the luxury brand posted an official apology after its first full shower oil campaign film starring Mingyu hit the internet. A brief excerpt of the video’s description on Instagram read, “This is the first campaign film with L’Occitane Asia ambassador Mingyu who ends his day on a positive note by taking a shower.”
Fans react to Seventeen Mingyu’s unacceptable breach of privacy
Seventeen fans, Carat, were outraged by the violation of Mingyu’s privacy, demanding that the employee be fired instead of simply being suspended. Many fans of the famous artist slammed the unethically shared photos, and demanded protection for their beloved singer. Hashtags such as “#ProtectMingyu” swept social media, as horrified fans condemned the disgusting stunt.
“Suspension? Employee should be fired,” one fan wrote on Axe (formerly Twitter).
Someone else commented, “Just because he’s a man doesn’t give him an exemption to post inappropriate photos!”
Meanwhile, some people also questioned the staff member for making such videos. “I feel so sorry for Mingyu, he didn’t work hard to be sexually abused. The staff made videos of him, many sexual jokes, fan or not – it’s fun to make sexual jokes.
“It’s already wrong that you made a video of her using your personal device unauthorizedly yet you have the guts to post it on social media,” a fourth user tweeted.
“This has to stop. Sexualizing an idol should not be tolerated,” one fan wrote on X.
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At the same time, another photo allegedly of L’Occitane Korea employees also took over the internet for the wrong reasons. Fans shared a photo of the brand’s employees in which they are seen doing unprofessional things. Several employees are seen holding their phones and taking videos/photos of a singer at the wrong time.
SEVENTEEN’s Mingyue has been appointed as L’Occitane’s first ambassador to the Asian region in May 2024.
At the time of the announcement, Irene Goh, managing director of L’Occitane in the Asia-Pacific region, said: “Mingue embodies the ideal modern yet Provençal lifestyle – busy but happy to be so, yet appreciating the luxury of taking time out to look after yourself and those around you.”
Goh added, “With his charisma and authenticity, we see Mingyu as the perfect pairing for our brand. We are very excited to work with Mingyu and hope this partnership will inspire everyone to experience the luxury of spending time with L’Occitane.”
