Ten Korean brands dropped Kim Seon-ho in 24 hours — then had to reinstate him

On 17 October 2021, an anonymous post on the Korean forum Nate Pann made personal allegations against a rising actor then at the peak of his popularity. Korean entertainment media identified the actor as Kim Seon-ho, whose drama had just topped Netflix's global charts. He held more than ten brand endorsements, each worth an estimated ₩400–500 million ($340K–$425K).

Within 24 hours — before Kim or his agency had responded — brands began pulling his advertisements. Domino's Pizza Korea deleted ads from Instagram and Facebook and set a YouTube commercial to private. Canon Korea hid Instagram posts featuring Kim, then re-displayed them 30 minutes later in apparent confusion, then removed them again. E-commerce platform 11Street, skincare brand La Roche-Posay and outdoor clothing brand Nau Korea all cut ties or removed content. Brand representatives told Sports Chosun they had tried to reach Kim all day but he had not responded.

On 20 October, Kim acknowledged the allegations and apologised. Six days later, Korean outlet Dispatch published counter-reporting suggesting the situation was more ambiguous than first reported. By 28–29 October, seven companies had awkwardly reinstated his advertisements. No company charged a penalty fee. Kim's Instagram followers grew from 7.3 million to 7.7 million through the episode.