[SBS Star] SEVENTEEN Faces Criticism for Their 'Low-Priced' & 'Couldn't-Care-Less' Gift to Fans

K-pop boy group SEVENTEEN is being criticized for their low-priced and couldn't-care-less gift to fans. 

On October 23, SEVENTEEN released their 11th mini album 'SEVENTEENTH HEAVEN' with the title track 'God of Music'. 

SEVENTEEN participated in various music show recordings after the release of the album, and a pre-recording for Mnet's music show 'M COUNTDOWN' was one of them. 

Since SEVENTEEN had a big comeback stage on 'M COUNTDOWN', 1,200 lucky CARAT (SEVENTEEN's fandom name) were invited to the studio on October 30. 
During their long wait, they received a special gift from the group's agency staff that was prepared by the members themselves in return for their much love and support. 

Each of them was given two types of kimchi (fermented cabbage) cans in a red reusable bag that had 'SEVENTEENTH HEAVEN' printed on it.  

When the staff handed these out to them, they asked CARAT to repeatedly say, "The best kimchi is made by Jongga, and Jongga's ambassador is HOSHI!" 

It was because kimchi in the cans they gave to fans was made by a well-known kimchi brand in Korea named 'Jongga', which HOSHI recently became a model of. 

After receiving their gift, however, fans were not so happy; they were disappointed that their gift only had two cans of kimchi that were given to HOSHI for free for marketing purposes. 
They started comparing SEVENTEEN's gift to gifts that other K-pop acts had given to their fans during their comeback week and album promotional period. 

While it was true that a lot of them had given their fans a gift that consisted of the brand's products they were modeling for, they also purchased special meals or desserts to go with them, along with a cute little note expressing their gratitude. And some of them even baked cookies for each of their fans. 

The two cans were found to only cost around 3,500 won (approximately 2.7 dollars), but it was not just the price that CARAT were angry about. It was also that none of the members of SEVENTEEN put in any effort into thinking what fans may have liked or wanted. 
This was, in fact, not the first time SEVENTEEN was cheap and thoughtless about their gift to fans. 

For instance, when they were promoting 'FACE THE SUN' with the title track 'HOT' in May last year, they gave a packet of chips called 'Sun Chips' and 'Sunkist' drink to their fans, and a pack of naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles) on another day. 

But SEVENTEEN members have previously gifted customized jackets and proper meals to their staff after an event, making fans feel like they are nothing to them. 
As CARAT's dissatisfaction filled online, HOSHI, who failed to read the room, came along and further ignited the flame. 

He posted a photo of a box of those kimchi cans and wrote, "Being a kimchi ambassador is great. Thank you, Jongga. 2,500 cans of kimchi. I love you, CARAT.", sounding as if he was proud of the gift he gave to fans, when in reality, he was just giving fans what he had gotten from Jongga at no cost. 

Fans angrily left comments such as, "They honestly don't care about us. We buy 500 million copies of 'HEAVEN' for them, and this is what we get? Wth...", "They only say that they love us and never spend anything on us. Do you really love us?", "They should've at least packed it with an instant rice bowl and cup noodles with a thank-you note! Then, none of us wouldn't be this annoyed!", "What are CARAT to you, SEVENTEEN?", "Do you know how humiliated I felt to repeatedly say those words after the staff just to get two cans of kimchi?", "I mean, there are 13 of them. If they split between them, it's not even going to cost them that much to get us something more than two kimchi cans!" and so on. 
(Credit= Pledis Entertainment, Online Community, 'ho5hi_kwon' Instagram) 

(SBS Star)