Because of his actions against Son Heung-min, causing scandal in the Korean national team, Lee Kang-in is being boycotted by brands and his contract is terminated early. They are even suing him, demanding nearly 6 million USD in compensation.
One of Korea’s leading companies, Arachi Chicken, has removed Lee Kang-in’s promotional photos and videos from its website. This is one of the trading partners that punished the star of the Korean national team after the conflict with Son Heung-min.
Arachi Chicken chose Lee Kang-in as its advertising model last January. The two’s contract is said to be worth millions of dollars. Lee continuously appears in promotional programs of this chicken fast food company.
But after the incident at the 2023 Asian Cup, Arachi Chicken canceled all promotional events and terminated the contract with Lee Kang-in ahead of time.
Lee Kang-in is surrounded by trouble
KT Group also made a similar move when canceling all advertising activities. A company spokesman said: “We are wary of the controversy surrounding Lee Kang-in. We request all distributors and stores nationwide to remove all posters related to Lee Kang-in.”
Nexon, the entertainment company that chose Lee Kang-in as an advertising model, also plans to sue Lee Kang-in due to bad feedback.
According to the sheet Yonhapit is likely that these brands will sue Lee Kang-in because their contracts have a compensation clause.
It is known that the advertising fees that KT, Arachi Chicken and Nexon paid to Lee Kang-in amounted to millions of dollars. According to the agreement, if Lee Kang-in violates the Law or causes controversy on social networks, he will have to compensate 2 to 3 times the advertising fee (depending on the partner).
Based on this, Korean media believes that Lee may have to pay a fine of up to 5.6 million USD to the brands.