McDonald's Launches Son Heung-min Ads in Korea After Resolving Contract Conflicts

Advertisements and promotions featuring global McDonald's model Son Heung-min (currently with LAFC), which had previously been absent from the domestic market, are making their debut in Korea.

McDonald's Korea began airing TV commercials featuring Son today (July 12) during the broadcast of the World Cup quarterfinal match between Argentina and Switzerland.

It has been confirmed that starting tomorrow (July 13), the FIFA World Cup set promotion, which includes a Son Heung-min cup, will resume at stores nationwide.

Ahead of the North and Central American World Cup last month, McDonald's launched a limited-edition Collector's Cup promotion featuring illustrations of nine global football stars, including Son Heung-min, David Beckham, and Ronaldinho.

However, the Son Heung-min cup was notably excluded from McDonald's stores in South Korea, the player's home country.

This was due to Son's existing exclusive modeling contracts with competing brands in Korea.

Son currently serves as an exclusive model for various food and beverage brands in Korea, including Domino's Pizza, Mega MGC Coffee, and Lotte Wellfood (World Cone).

According to standard advertising contract practices in Korea, an exclusive model for a specific brand cannot be featured in marketing activities for competitors in the same or similar food and beverage industries during the contract period.

To avoid such contract conflicts and legal risks, McDonald's Korea had withheld domestic advertising and excluded products featuring Son's image from its promotions while conducting the global campaign.

This led to complaints from domestic football fans, who questioned why Korean consumers were unable to purchase the Son Heung-min cup when the global model is Korean.

The situation even led to Son Heung-min cups, sourced from overseas stores such as those in the U.S., being resold on domestic second-hand trading platforms for prices ranging from 55,000 won to as high as 110,000 won each.

However, it appears that the complex contractual issues have been resolved as of today.

When asked about the matter, McDonald's Korea stated, "We cannot disclose the specific details of the contract adjustments."

The FIFA World Cup set consists of a Big Mac, french fries, a drink (coke), and a limited-edition football player collector's cup.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.