According to Hankyung, the reputation rankings of each Kpop girl group member in October just announced by the Korea Brand Reputation Research Institute showed that Jennie (Blackpink) won the top spot, followed by Karina (aespa) and Jang Won Young (IVE).
However, the members of NewJeans (Minji, Hanni, Haerin, Danielle, Hyein), 5 idols who are facing constant conflicts with their management company - HYBE, disappeared from the Top 100 of the chart. The last time NewJeans was in the Top 5 was in March of this year, with member Hanni.
On October 22, a post appeared on Blind - an anonymous office worker community - stating: "NewJeans, the top girl group, fell off the October brand reputation rankings" and expressing concern about this sudden decline.
The Korea Brand Reputation Research Institute analyzed by extracting 135,672,895 data from 680 K-pop girl group members from September 20 to October 20.
The data used to create the brand reputation rankings is based on an analysis of consumer engagement, media coverage and public perception index.
The decline of NewJeans members began to be discovered after the press conference in late April by former ADOR Company CEO Min Hee Jin, when she expressed her dissatisfaction with HYBE Chairman Bang Si Hyuk and the group's executives.
NewJeans' ranking first dropped to #13 in April, #19 in May, and dropped out of the Top 30 in June, although they re-emerged in Korea in May and debuted in Japan in June. By September, they were completely pushed out of the rankings.
While missing from the reputation rankings, NewJeans was named the top girl group at the 2024 Brand of the Year awards held by the Korea Consumer Forum in September.
At the same time, the group is working as models and ambassadors for dozens of brands in many different fields such as Calvin Klein, Nike, Coca-Cola, Shinhan Investment Corp., Lotte Wellfood, Musinsa, Hyundai Duty Free Store, McDonalds, iPhone, LG, Stonehenge, OiOi, Carin, Olens,...
Each member is also active as an ambassador for a luxury fashion brand: Hanni - Gucci, Minji - Chanel, Haerin - Dior, Danielle - Celine, Hyein - Louis Vuitton.
During September and October, members Hanni and Hyein attended Milan and Paris Fashion Week as luxury brand ambassadors.
In July, NewJeans was selected by the Korea Tourism Organization as the “2024 Korea Tourism Honorary Ambassador”. Previously, the group also served as ambassadors for Incheon International Airport and Seoul Fashion Week.
NewJeans member Hanni recently testified as a reference at the Korean National Assembly audit on October 15, speaking about workplace bullying. This is the first time a K-pop idol has testified at a national audit.
The above data makes the public wonder whether there is any interference in the Kpop idol reputation rankings?
