Influencer Imvely apologised for moldy pumpkin juice — then deleted the complaints

Im Ji-hyun, the 33-year-old fashion, beauty and lifestyle influencer behind online shopping mall Imvely, apologised for selling 'moldy' pumpkin juice, promising full refunds and stricter quality control. 'We apologize for becoming a subject of public criticism and causing you concern,' she said in a statement.

The apology was met with outrage instead of forgiveness: she had allegedly deleted consumer complaints to cover up the case. 'I had trust in Im because she emphasized that her products were effective and safe. I plan to unfollow Im, who sells rotten food using her popularity,' one consumer wrote online. Imvely had been considered one of the most successful first-generation online fashion malls — 16 offline branches since its 2015 launch, stores in the US and Japan, and an online mall in China — with Im's 848,000 Instagram followers as its engine.

Im's case became the emblem of influencer commerce's structural weakness: the same personal trust that drives sales transmits the failure straight to the person. A Seoul Metropolitan Government survey of 4,000 adults found 30 percent of those who bought faulty goods via social media never got a refund or even a response — and consumers described fighting sellers who refused returns by calling products 'custom-made'.

The cover-up was worse than the crime: deleting complaints meant the apology read as image management, not accountability.

An influencer-owned brand concentrates every risk — sourcing, quality, service — in one personality, with no corporate buffer.

The episode landed amid a wider pattern: nearly a third of Korean social-commerce buyers of faulty goods never got their money back.

Food safety made it unforgivable — this was not a blouse arriving different from its photo, but something consumers drank.

Influence converts attention into trust, and trust is a loan against quality control. An influencer's own brand has no buffer — deleting complaints turns a product problem into a credibility one.

Imvely promised full refunds for the pumpkin juice and tighter quality control, but the deletion allegations kept the outrage alive, with consumers publicly unfollowing. The Korea Times judged the company likely to struggle to recover its tarnished image; no sales figures were reported.