The French luxury brand L’Occitane is in shambles after an employee leaked dozens of topless photos of SEVENTEEN member Mingyu on social media. The photos were taken during Mingyu’s first campaign as a L’Occitane Asia ambassador. The employee also sexualized Mingyu, and a photo leak showed other employees doing the same; their actions earned the ire of netizens and the band’s dedicated fandom, the Carats.
L’Occitane’s Employee Leaks Private Photos
Earlier this week, a L’Occitane employee used her Instagram to share dozens of private photos of Mingyu from the brand’s photo shoot. Some of those photos were of him topless from a scene wherein he was bathing. The photos were taken with an unauthorized device without his consent. How could this happen? A netizen on X revealed another picture of individuals, presumed to be L’Occitane Korea employees, also taking photos of Mingyu during that time.
Netizens React As Photos Become Trending
SEVENTEEN’s fandom, the Carats, and netizens are enraged because these inappropriate photos were shared online and became trending. Fans have taken it upon themselves to add covers to the immorally shared images in order to create a blackout and demand SEVENTEEN’s agency, Pledis Entertainment, to protect Mingyu. News of L’Occitane suspending the employee didn’t cut it; fans demanded she get fired.
L’Occitane Releases Official Apology
L’Occitane Korea apologized for the unauthorized release of photos taken from the Asia Ambassador campaign. They acknowledge that there’s no excuse for this breach of privacy and accept responsibility. They relayed that the employee had been immediately and completely removed from all duties, suspended, and received disciplinary action. L’Occitane did not reply to the queries about whether the leaked photo of other people taking photos of Mingyu posted on X was of their employees.
Suspension is Not Enough
#ProtectMingyu exploded on social media, as netizens and their fandom demanded that the L’Occitane employee be fired for this nasty publicity stunt, including a further investigation for the leaked photo of employees taking unauthorized photos. Many were angered that Mingyu was sexualized, saying that him being a man doesn’t give anyone a free pass to do such a thing. Fans questioned how an unauthorized device could be used to film him at such a time and reiterated that sexualizing idols shouldn’t be tolerated. L’Occitane is yet to reply to this wave of rage focused on them.
Final Thoughts
Mingyu’s privacy leak comes at a bad time, considering Korea is fighting the spread of sexualized deepfakes of K-pop stars. The SEVENTEEN member has been a victim of countless incidents wherein he was sexualized. Many demand transparency about how this happened, and if the leaked photos of employees are true, why were they allowed to behave that way? The invasion of his privacy is seen as a massive breach, and people demand real accountability.
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