Last Friday (30th May), fans were over the moon as TREASURE members Park Jeongwoo (박정우), Doyoung (도영), Choi Hyunsuk (최현석), and Haruto (하루토/ハルト) made a special appearance at Sunway Pyramid for ecoBrown’s BRICE with TREASURE event. Some lucky fans even managed to greet the idols at KLIA upon their arrival, on the same day EXO’s Suho landed in Malaysia.
Although the event itself appeared to be a success, things seemingly didn’t go as smoothly when it came to managing the brand’s contest winners, who were meant to meet the idols on stage. Here’s what happened:
On Wednesday (4th June), a fan took to Twitter to share their experience as one of the winners of ecoBrown’s contest to meet TREASURE during the brand’s recent BRICE Malaysia with TREASURE event. The user detailed the agreement they were required to sign and expressed frustration over several rules that, in their view, did not make sense.
According to the screenshots of the guidelines shared, the organisers requested that fans refrain from taking photos or videos throughout the event, despite it being held in a public space. The user claimed that the brand had initially posted the same guidelines on social media, but later changed the caption to specify that the rule applied only to contest winners. This led to confusion, as the winners were positioned closer to the boy group and understandably had more opportunities to capture content.
As if that weren’t enough, the winners were reportedly not provided with chairs while waiting for the group photo session with the idols onstage. This detail can be verified, as members of the media, including Hype Malaysia, were seen standing beside the winners in the designated waiting zone.
Another fan also shared their conversation with ecoBrown on Instagram, in which the brand explained that they had removed criticisms and complaints from their social media to avoid the risk of being blacklisted by K-artists for future events. The company further clarified that they were required to strictly enforce the rules and agreements set by TREASURE’s management in order to ensure the artists’ safety.
The same day that the IG conversation circulated, BRICE Malaysia issued a statement to reiterate the explanation they had given to the user on the social media platform. However, the brand has yet to address the complaints about the day of the event itself and the alleged mistreatment towards the winners. Let’s hope the next event featuring a K-pop idol will be a lot better.
Here’s the full statement from BRICE Malaysia prior to the event:
Source: Twitter
