BTS merchandise prices attract criticism, even from Jin

[em-cavey.livejournal.com]

On January 3rd, BTS hosted a V Live introducing the first of their new hand-designed official merchandise. In line with the home-shopping theme of the broadcast, the members presented Jin’s personally designed set of “Good Day” and “Bad Day” themed pajamas and pillows. However, many fans soon expressed their disappointment at the pajamas being priced at 119,000 KRW (approx. 100 USD), and the pillow at 69,000 KRW (approx. 60 USD) on the Weverse shop.


Jin even joined in, commenting on Weverse, “I asked them to use high-quality material but that price… I’m surprised too”


This is the latest in a string of merchandising issues for BTS and HYBE. Last year, HYBE recalled some of its BTS-branded external batteries after fans complained about the poor quality of the product and the company's announced ventures into webtoons and NFTs have been met with fan outcry and threats of boycott.

Along with photocard collections, multiple-edition albums, and fansign lotteries, official K-pop merchandise is one of the marketing techniques and products of idol agencies that are coming under an increasing amount of criticism from within and without the industry. In recent years, K-pop agencies have come under fire for merchandise that is often unreasonably high-priced but poorly manufactured, as some fans become more resistant to how cynically agencies monetize fandoms.

Sources: BTS V LIVE, OSEN, XSport News

Idols calling out their own ugly and/or overpriced goods brings me so much joy lol
Any merch purchases you do or don’t regret, omona?

Comments

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

if it really is made with high quality materials and in humane conditions then that's not a high asking price imo. but most folks are used to (and/or can only afford) cheap goods so i'm not surprised at the backlash.

[em-cavey.livejournal.com]

Yeah it's not THAT exorbitant if the product is decent but I think a lot of k-army especially have accumulated resentment at how blatantly and shamelessly money-grubbing Hybe has been lately. The prices on their own probably wouldn't have been a big deal but they're already really mad about the wattpad/nft mess and the fact that BTS has done only three songs but like ten cfs over the last year.

[darklitplanet.livejournal.com]

$100 usd isn't that bad for a nice pair of pajamas imo, assuming the quality is actually good and they're long-lasting. music merch is almost never high-quality though unfortunately.

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

I mean, if it's truly high quality (not made out of polyester for example) and not made by workers that only earn a penny per day then that's a reasonable price. But most merch is cheaply produced in China so I doubt that BH is changing that.

[nekobot.livejournal.com]

I agree that it's not that bad a price for good quality ethically produced pyjamas but the only reason we have to assume that they are is "Jin asked for it" so it's highly unlikely they actually bothered to follow through. When do they actually listen to these guys? We all saw this man resort to cutting his own bangs with kitchen scissors!

[kris-terror.livejournal.com]

I'm curious to see how Namjoon's plain gray jogger are gonna run for when they share pricing tomorrow, cause if those are triple digits.......whew

[rose-potion.livejournal.com]

Last year I bought some wearable merch for the first time from Weverse. From the Dalmajung collection and the Little Wished some bracelets, sweatshirt and obviously useless things like a mug, keychain and mirror because I have no self control when it comes to that! I didn’t check where the stuff was made, thinking everything was from China and surprisingly the jewellery and sweatshirt were made in Korea which is nice. The quality is really good (ngl they were expensive), the sweatshirt is warm and the material is thick and the embroidered details are really nice. The bracelets are delicate and don’t look cheap (but damn Koreans have tiny wrists lol I can wear them only on the bigger little clip).
I try to be good because HYBE really is a money hungry monster, for these prices the shipping should be included at the very least!

[chikage-chan.livejournal.com]

I've got some of the SVT wearable merch before and they were nice, specially the Anniversary T-shirts and the necklace/pendant. They felt worth the price to me, considering the material and the limited edition factor.

But i just checked this on Weverse and idk if 100 bucks is worth for made in Vietnam cotton pajamas. At least they are marked as 100% cotton?

And thats completely on me, but i have an undying hatred for how lazy the TinyTan designs are, so I hate this on principle lol

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

i think this wouldn't be too much of an issue if hybe wasn't trying to make money out of every breath bts takes, like op's post says!