aespa Karina And Winter’s “World Cup” Appearance Hugely Criticized — Linked To BTS’s V

aespa Winter and Karina‘s appearance at the World Cup has sparked moral criticism, with many bringing up BTS‘s V.

Recently, the two left for Mexico for the World Cup.

On June 11 (local time), Winter and Karina attended the South Korea versus the Czech Republic in Mexico. Photos of Winter and Karina in Coca-Cola shirts have been going viral, but sparking controversy as the brand is on the boycott list due to the genocide in Gaza.

aespa’s Karina and Winter stun at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. pic.twitter.com/f7FRe19kOg

— Pop Core (@TheePopCore) June 12, 2026

Idols have been hit with major criticism for being associated with brands on the boycott list.

Yet there has also been debate about female idols being hit more than male idols, and the initial reactions to Karina and Winter wearing a Coca-Cola t-shirt sparked criticism for the use of misogyny as backlash. Many criticized the idols and hit back that they can’t continue to use the “if it was a woman…” because of Karina and Winter’s actions.

“oh but if it was a women” LET’S TALK ABOUT IT

— khloe⁷ (@younjungllit) June 12, 2026

the “if it was a female idol…” discourse being proven false once again, all u need is to be a kpop twt darling to get away with anything

— ⋆ (@akgaepop) June 12, 2026

Those who say“if a female idol did this, she’d be cancelled” are the ones who now go missing when ggrps actually do these things. That’s proof that no matter how problematic it gets, ggrps often end up hiding behind the “women card” instead of facing the same level of backlash.

— ٍ (@impactjeons) June 12, 2026

In particular, netizens brought up the criticism towards BTS’s V, who is an ambassador for Coca-Cola, claiming that there was so much hate towards the idol, but when aespa did it, there was a lot of praise from the reactions.

SM idols have it so easy. K-pop fans were treating Taehyung from BTS like the worst person alive for working with Coca-Cola Korea, but now everyone is quiet.

— PINKY (@THEOGPINKBAMBA) June 12, 2026

So are the ppl who constantly make insensitive “jokes” about Israel bc of Hybe or the ones who nailed Tae to cross for months going to comment on this for twitter’s favorite girl group currently? pic.twitter.com/7dBzbohux6

— Bran (@yjkive) June 12, 2026

And nobody is going to go off on them or drag them to filth or call them all the disgusting names under the sun or send death threats because they are not BTS. Hypocrisy is an understatement atp.

— ✨TaeGenic ⁷ ✨ (@Thebear1995T) June 12, 2026