J World Industry, the maker of Alzipmat, one of Korea's best-known baby play mats, wanted to own the word-of-mouth that decides the market: parenting forums. From 2017, for about eight months, it ran the campaign through an advertising agency — 274 posts and comments across 54 internet sites, above all the 'mom cafes' where Korean parents research purchases. Posing as ordinary consumers, the agency attacked the rival Creamhouse Friends mats: 'my child's skin broke out in allergies', 'a crazy company where harmful substances were detected'. The same posts recommended Alzipmat.
This was not an agency freelancing: J World Industry dictated the wording of specific comments and received real-time reports on posting progress. The scheme ran until a police search and seizure in 2018, and the former chief executive was later criminally convicted of obstruction of business. Some of the fake posts stayed online until September 2025 — eight years on, still posing as parents' experience and shaping purchases.
On 19 April 2026 the Korea Fair Trade Commission sanctioned J World Industry under the Fair Labeling and Advertising Act, as both deceptive advertising — hiding the author's identity to distort purchase decisions — and disparaging advertising aimed at damaging a competitor. The surcharge was ₩500 million, the statutory maximum fixed amount, applied because the sales influenced by the campaign could not be isolated, and because the scheme maliciously exploited parents' anxiety about child safety in a market where reputation is everything. A corrective order accompanied the fine.
The KFTC fined J World Industry ₩500M, the statutory maximum, because the fake reviews were both deceptive and disparaging, and exploited parents' safety anxieties.
The smear was industrial: 274 fake posts across 54 sites, the client dictating wording and receiving real-time reports — not a rogue agency.
It targeted the most sensitive audience there is: parents researching baby products, with fabricated allergy and toxicity claims about a rival's mats.
Fake reviews have a long half-life: some posts stayed up until September 2025, still reading as genuine consumer experience eight years on.
Astroturfing that attacks a rival is two offences at once: Alzipmat's fake mom-cafe comments were deception and disparagement — Korea applied the ₩500 million statutory maximum.
The KFTC announced the sanction on 19 April 2026: the ₩500 million statutory-maximum surcharge plus a corrective order. The campaign had run about eight months from 2017 until the 2018 police raid; the former CEO was criminally convicted of obstruction of business, and some fake posts remained online until September 2025.
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