In recent days, Jin and Xiao Zhan’s fan communities have υиєχρє¢тє∂ly become embroiled in a heated online conflict surrounding their positions as Gucci brand ambαѕѕadors. The controversy reached a peak when an account believed to be a Jin fan allegedly engaged in “doxxing” — illegally distributing — Xiao Zhan’s national ID information on social media. Even when asked to delete the content, the account not only refused to apologize but also continued posting provocative content, causing tensions between the two fandoms to escalate further.
Although Jin is completely uninvolved in the incident, and it has yet to be determined whether the person responsible was actually his fan or an anti-fan posing as one, the idol himself has ended up bearing the direct consequences.
In the latest promotional posts for Gucci’s PRIMAVERA campaign featuring Jin on Chinese social media platforms, the comment sections were flooded with negative remarks allegedly coming from some fans of the Chinese actor. Jin was mocked for his appearance and age and compared to Xiao Zhan in an attempt to put him down. Some comments even claimed that Gucci does not favor Jin because Xiao Zhan is more popular in his home market of ¢нιиα. Jin’s posts on Gucci’s online platforms were also met with numerous malicious comments written in Chinese.
Even though ARMY has explained that this could have been a scheme carried out by an anti-fan, and major Jin fansites have fully supported Xiao Zhan’s side in taking legal action over the incident, some Xiao Zhan fans have continued their hate campaigns targeting Jin, even calling on Gucci to ѕтяιρ him of his global ambαѕѕador position.
Interestingly, just one day after the conflict between the two fandoms of the brand’s ambαѕѕadors erupted, Gucci has now taken a series of actions, seemingly making its stance clear!
Specifically, on August 28, Gucci took action against a large number of insulting comments targeting Jin on Xiaohongshu. According to what fans observed, the number of negative comments dropped sharply from around 30,000 to only about 6,000. On Weibo, the comment sections under posts related to Jin were also locked, limiting the spread of further attacks under the brand’s official posts.
That’s not all. Gucci was also seen running an app-opening advertisement on Weibo. This means that when users open the Weibo app on their phones, one of the first advertisements they see is a set of photos from the GUCCI PRIMAVERA campaign recently shot by Jin — the brand’s global ambαѕѕador.
Even more notably, during BTS’s concert in Chicago on August 28, fans also spotted Jin taking the stage in a new performance outfit created by Gucci, featuring elements inspired by the new Gucci PRIMAVERA aesthetic.
ARMYs interpreted the brand’s continued promotion of Jin through the campaign, as well as its promotional activities on Chinese platforms, as a strong show of protection and favor toward its global ambαѕѕador. In doing so, Gucci also appeared to directly reinforce Jin’s position with the brand. Seeing these moves, some ARMYs even felt vindicated, especially after some Xiao Zhan fans and anti-fans had previously mocked Jin by claiming that Gucci no longer prioritized him.
Meanwhile, many ARMYs believe that continuing to insult Jin, call for him to be “canceled,” or urge Gucci to end its partnership with him on Weibo and Xiaohongshu will not solve the issue and could even backfire on Xiao Zhan’s own image. For fans who are still thinking rationally, neither Jin nor Xiao Zhan was responsible for starting this controversy, and neither of them deserves to become the target of an ongoing fandom war.
Fans left comments sharing their heated reactions to Gucci’s latest moves in the controversy: "Which brand would dare to engage him as ambαѕѕador when his fans need to attack other brand ambαѕѕadors and destroying the brand as a result? What childish and uncouth behaviour", "I genuinely cannot imagine being such a terrible fan that you embarrαѕѕ your own fave like that", "The embarrαѕѕment that this actor's fans are making him go through", "Gucci deleting all their spam comments on rednote. Genuinely how embarrαѕѕing", "keep leaving nice comments on both instagram posts and the rednote post, report any negative ones, don't engage in them we don't need to boost them", "They can keep going. Nobody’s reputation will be tainted here except their fave. But I think that’s exactly their goal",...
