With the continued criticisms surrounding the new JTBC series "Snowdrop," several of its advertisers and sponsors have officially cut ties with the drama. The show receives huge backlash when it portrays the male lead character, Im Soo-Ho (Jung Hae-in), as an actual spy, resulting in accusations of distorting historical facts.
Set in 1987 Seoul, it was the same time the mass protest movements led by college students fought for a fair democracy happened. At the time, National Intelligence captured many college students and accused them of being spies.
The framed students were tortured and even murdered under the pretense that they were spies, AllKpop noted. So, when the show made Im Soo-ho a spy, the netizens criticized the drama for distorting history and mocking the college students' sacrifice back then.
This led to the release of the Blue House petition that now has about 200,000 signatories. After that, a number of companies have withdrawn their support from BLACKPINK's Jisoo's first-ever drama, pulling out their products and sponsorships.
Ssarijai, a rice cake company, apologized to the public for sponsoring the series, not knowing its main plot but only its artists. After hearing the issues, it quickly requested to be dropped from the sponsorship list.
However, the company's logo would continuously be seen until Episode 12, as the drama had already finished filming. In addition, Dopyeong-Yo, a pottery company, also apologized and reached out to the series' officials to remove its brand logos from its scenes. It also asked the show to return all of its products.
Elsewhere, the tea company Teazen also revealed it would stop their advertisement for the series. These are just some too many companies that have pulled out their support from "Snowdrop" as the controversy continues.
Meanwhile, the furniture brand Milliens revealed the production company assured that "Snowdrop" would be a popular drama with its all-star cast members despite the issues. The company demanded to see the storyline but to no avail.
Milliens expressed its concerns over the controversy even before the drama aired but trusted its official statement about the issue. However, it looked like a different thing had happened.
Not only that, but it also complained the furniture they had sent for sponsorship was returned in "a severely damaged condition." Despite that, it had not received any compensation, even the data of its advertisement.
So, it decided to withdraw its sponsorship due to a number of reasons. But as it was a pre-production drama, its items could not be removed immediately, so it only requested to have its products exposed as little as possible.
