Team Korea's Asian Cup spat sparks mixed fortunes for sponsors

The reported altercation between Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in at the Asian Cup has meant contrasting fortunes for their respective sponsors.

Son Heung-min stars in a Mega MGC Coffee's advertisement. [MEGA MGC COFFEE]

Celebrity athlete branding can bring mixed blessings to the retail sector.

A reported altercation between Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Lee Kang-in and Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min at the recent Asian Cup has impacted how the players' sponsors have been treated by the public.

As it turns out, Mega MGC Coffee, starring Son, was the recent winner.

The coffee brand gave out free drink coupons for seasonal strawberry drinks to a limited number of customers on a first come, first served basis according to the number of goals that Son scored and Korea’s success during the Asian Cup.

Son led the country to victory in the quarterfinal against Australia with a free-kick during extra-time. During the Asian Cup, Son played a pivotal role in Team Korea’s progress.

After the quarterfinal, part-timers at Mega MGC Coffee branches wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that they were swamped by countless incoming orders. The sales record of the brand’s seasonal strawberry drinks surpassed 1.47 million within a month after its release.

“When Son’s goal turned the game and gave Team Korea the lead in the quarterfinal, more than 100,000 customers were in an online queue to order the coffee or to use our service on the mobile application,” Mega MGC Coffee said.

A promotional poster featuring Lee Kang-in for chicken franchise Alachi on a wall in Seoul. [NEWS1]

However, Alachi, a Korean chicken franchise starring Lee in its commercials, is facing backlash over its commercials starring Lee after reports of the altercation between Son and Lee.

The Korea Football Association on Feb. 14 admitted that Son injured his finger during an altercation with younger footballers in the team a day before the Asian Cup semifinal. The JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, reported that Son grabbed Lee by the collar after a disagreement and Lee took a swing at Son.

Alachi reportedly removed advertisements featuring Lee from its official website. No television commercials starring Lee can be found on its site as of Tuesday, although they have previously aired on television.

However, the brand’s commercials and video clips of bloopers remain available on the brand’s official YouTube channel.

Recent comments on the videos express disapproval toward Lee.

Some comments encouraged boycotting the brand while Lee remained its promoter. Others recommended that the chicken brand remove Lee from their media and promotional materials before its sales get affected by consumers turning their back on the brand.

Alachi is owned and managed by Samhwa F&C, a Daegu-based food manufacturer.

KT, one of the major mobile carriers in Korea, also stars Lee in their brand commercials.

Some retail branches of KT took down the promotional posters featuring Lee at their own discretion on Feb. 16, a day earlier than originally scheduled. The company headquarters guided the branches to remove the posters after the promotion officially ended on Feb. 17.

Amid the continuing backlash, Lee’s legal representative said on Feb. 15 that the footballer would explain what happened with Son in the near future.

BY JUNG SI-NAE [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]