Karina’s Major Fanbase Announces A Boycott Against aespa

A major fanbase of aespa member Karina recently announced that they will be boycotting the idol, raising concerns among fans.

A major Chinese fanbase called Karina Bar recently took to social media to announce that they will be withdrawing from organizing mass purchases of aespa’s album and merchandise and instead redirect all their funds to supporting the solo activities of Karina exclusively.

正规一不开链接，指定也不会开，以及公司所有销售包括周边在内停止，一切以柳智敏个人为主。

— KARINA Bar_카리나바 (@ChinaKarinaBar) February 29, 2024

We’ll not arrange for a group order of the 1st full album. There won’t be one for the member-specific version either. All orders for everything the company is selling, including merchandise, are stopped. We’ll solely focus on Karina, the individual.

— @ChinaKarinaBar

This announcement came after the fanbase expressed their frustration with SM Entertainment’s management of the singer. Karina Bar accused the label of mishandling its artists, and put a few demands forward for Karina particularly, including ensuring safer stage costumes and better response to fans’ concerns.

#RespectForKARINA
*저희는 팬으로서 카리나가 적절한 보호와 대우를 받길 바랄 뿐입니다.@aespa @SMTOWNGLOBAL

저희의 요구사항은 다음과 같습니다.
1. 무대 위 안전이 보장되는 의상
2. 광야119 신고 건에 대한 대응 및 안내
3. 컨텐츠 지연·누락 업로드 개선
4. 아티스트에 맞는 최적의 스타일링 pic.twitter.com/k0LJD947I1

— KARINA Bar_카리나바 (@ChinaKarinaBar) February 23, 2024

Until these demands are met, Karina Bar has suspended all activities that could support aespa as a whole and has decided to focus on supporting Karina solely.

This news has caused some tension among fans, given how large Chinese fanbases are well-known for their impact on album sales and the overall promotion of an artist. But most netizens opined that Chinese fanbases were already boycotting K-Pop groups, and even with this boycott, aespa has been able to become a million-seller. In general, the popular opinion seems to be that despite the withdrawal of this big fanbase, the group will remain unaffected.

• “Right now, China isn’t spending money on any K-Pop group anyway, so isn’t there an overall drop in first-week sales? It’s the same for every group, not just aespa. China just doesn’t buy albums anymore.”
• “WDYM f*cked, though? The boycott in China is overall the same for all K-pop groups.”
• “Didn’t they already start boycotting during ‘Drama?’ It’s been a long time since China prohibited bulk buying anyway. Nobody is f*cked. You guys are only saying this because you want aespa to fail, LOL.”
• “But even with the boycott, they sold over 1 million copies last time. Wouldn’t it be the same this time?”
• “Well, regardless of Karina’s dating rumors, if you look at the recent comebacks of other idols, the first week sales are overall in decline because almost everyone lost their Chinese sales. Everyone is in a similar situation.”

This is not the first time an aespa member’s fanbase has been dissatisfied with SM Entertainment over their management. Recently, fans were also outraged for NingNing after SM Entertainment allegedly “sabotaged” her at a brand event. Read more about it here.

Fans Outraged Over SM Entertainment’s Alleged Mistreatment Of aespa’s NingNing During Public Event