Luxury beauty brand L'Occitane's branch in Korea issued an apology after an employee posted unauthorized photos of K-pop group Seventeen member Mingyu on social media.
In May, L'Occitane announced Mingyu as its first brand ambassador for Asia.
However, an employee of L'Occitane Korea posted photos of Mingyu, including one where he is shirtless, on social media, drawing the ire of fans.
A collection of the photos of Mingyu uploaded by the L'Occitane Korea employee (Photo from Nickidult on X)
“Mingyu took up a significant portion of my photo album... I couldn't delete it because I was anxious, but I guess I'll organize it now," the employee wrote on Instagram.
The photos were believed to have been taken during an advertisement shoot.
On Sept. 3, L'Occitane Korea issued an apology and said the employee in question has been suspended.
Here is the full official statement of L'Occitane Korea:
“We sincerely apologize for the recent incident involving the unauthorized release of photos from the L‘Occitane Asia Ambassador campaign, which were improperly distributed on the personal social media account of one of our employees. We acknowledge that there is no excuse for this breach and fully accept responsibility for what has occurred.
‘“We take this matter with the utmost seriousness, and we deeply regret the distress caused to the artist and all the fans. We extend our deepest apologies to them.
“The employee involved has been completely removed from all duties, and immediate disciplinary action (Suspension) has been enforced.
“To prevent such incidents in the future, we will implement a comprehensive and regular training program for all employees. This program will emphasize the critical importance of respecting the copyrights, portrait rights, publicity rights, and privacy of our brand ambassador.
“We will ensure that every employee thoroughly understands and adheres to these principles, and we will approach this process with a strong sense of responsibility.
“We deeply regret the occurrence and accept full responsibility. Once again, we sincerely apologize to the artist and all the fans.”
Official statement of L'Occitane Korea posted on Instagram