In the entertainment world, there are many cases of overlapping ideas, from MV to album design or music. These incidents could be α¢¢ι∂єитal or intentional, but fans can't help but talk about it and make comments.
Recently, THE BOYZ's virtual photocards were on the radar of кσяєαn netizens after they discovered that they were too similar to BTS's previous concept photos. Comparison topics or comment sections on SNS are filled with fans' opinions, but almost no one criticizes THE BOYZ because they are not the ones who directly created this product.
Instead, the group's management company and Zepeto receive a lot of criticism for being accused of plagiarizing BTS's ideas:
Accusations of plagiarism are not uncommon in the Kpop community. Since BTS debuted, there have been many times when the group has faced this accusation. Meanwhile, there are also many artists' products that are said to have plagiarized ideas from the group or its members.
Not long ago, SM Entertainment was accused of copying the ideas and design elements of V's album "Layover" for Taemin's (SHINee) album. Now, a product from THE BOYZ has fallen into the same situation and created a huge controversy among fans.
On November 14 (KST), a related post on popular кσяєαn community forum Instiz went viral. The post included several images of THE BOYZ's virtual photocard, made by Zepeto. However, the photos in question do not show the faces of the actual members but rather their Zepeto avatars.
However, the context of these virtual human photocards immediately reminded netizens of BTS's concept photos for their 2022 album, Proof. The commonalities between the pictures were quite obvious. The tiled background, the blue-adjacent lighting, and the specifically cross-shaped light projected onto the members’ faces were hard to miss in both sets of photos.
Most netizens seem to agree with the OP, claiming that the photocards are blatant copies:
- Whoa. I thought the ones at the bottom were Bangtan…It looks the same??? They aren’t even from the same company, though? - It’s absurd how they copied it so shamelessly.
- What are they doing?
- No way. What is this?
- I thought of getting one since these seem like photocards, but I don’t even know what they are. Is this soмєтнing made by Zepeto?
- This is too similar. What’s going on?
- Huh? What’s this? It looks the same?
- I thought it was BTS fanart stuff.
- It was Zepeto that made those.
- The tile design, the thickness of the lines, the color of the light, and even the + shaped light reflected on their faces are the same as BTS.
- Is this an homage they did out of respect? If it isn’t, then it doesn’t make sense, LOL.
- Huh I thought that the bottom ones were Bangtan... That's totally the same..?? Are they from the same company?
- What are they doing?
- Hul what is this
- This is way too similar, what is this..
- Zepeto are the ones who made it
- Is this supposed to be an hommage? If not, this is dumbfounding ㅋㅋ
- ..? I thought these were BTS' fanart goods
- Wow that's ̾f̾r̾e̾a̾king the same? And since when did Zepeto do photocards... Interesting
- This is kinda wrong no? Anyone can tell who they are
- i dont think its copying bcs zepeto itself provide them. but of the many photobox themes, why did he choose the proof one?
- i have no went on behind making that but it’s definitely based on the proof concept photos its blatantly there
While most netizens agree that these virtual photocards were too similar to BTS’s concept photos, they never expressed any criticism of the members of THE BOYZ, who practically had no involvement in the designs. The wave of criticism was mostly directed at Zepeto and the group’s agency because they are the ones who directly produce this product.
Currently, Zepeto and THE BOYZ's management company have not yet spoken out about these allegations!
