#11 - Corporate Collaborations are Peak Capitalism

Okay, it’s my second one of these this week so I’ve earned the chance to talk about BTS again, right? Sure! Moving on.

Recently, they did a McDonald’s promotion. ARMY, as expected, went absolutely fucknuts for it. No surprise there. Their fans have been trained. Maybe not explicitly, so it feels like an overly harsh word to use, but ultimately that is what has happened. The subtlety with which it occurred is brilliant. The fans now feel like it’s their self-assigned duty, so it never feels like an obligation to spend money on their products, or “support their ambassadorships” by purchasing whatever it is they’re promoting.

The fans feel the need to constantly prove the disproportionate influence that this band actually has. That’s The BTS Effect, babe! It all feeds into the underdog narrative, while also strengthening the fan’s resolution that they are an integral part of the band’s overall success (and there’s a desperation for the band to be respected/taken seriously that underpins this entire thing too).

Ultimately, the McDonald’s promotion went well. (So well that a bunch of McDonald’s in Indonesia had to close because there were too many orders and the Uber Eats drivers were unable to physically get the food. Also, someone created super ugly sneakers and I just need you to join me in a collective eye-roll over ~sneaker culture.) And because ARMY has invested their time/money/bowels into this deal at this point, they want to see their impact. So a bunch of people, for no other reason than being fans of a band, tuned in to the McDonald’s quarterly earnings report.

That’s fucking hilarious.

It’s a band! And their fans are now taking pride in…helping one of the most dominant fast-food enterprises of all time make more money?

And here’s the thing, I’m really not trying to give ARMY shit for being fans. I don’t think it’s easy to be a vocal fan of something. Honestly being a fan of anything is really fucking embarrassing, so the passion with which they support is both admirable and more than a little terrifying. They have so much collective energy and really can point it towards anything, at any time.

The fandom isn’t just there because of the music. Like, don’t get me wrong, that might be what got them in, but once you learn their names and watch In The Soop you are no longer just vibing to vibe. You feel like you know them, because honestly like half their content is well-produced vlogs. (And we know YouTube has become one of the most effective advertising platforms in history because, uh, have you seen the makeup industry? There are literally thousands of people who own a specific brand of fuzzy blankets purely because Jaclyn Hill said they were the best. I may not trust Jaclyn’s taste in much, but I do trust that she knows what she’s talking about when it comes to being cozy.)

Anyway, it makes their fans feel obligated to support them because, well, the narrative that they’ve been rejected by traditional media has been a huge reason the fandom acts the way they do. They are constantly on the defense. There can be no cracks in the façade? You don’t love their new song? Well, you better shut up and stream it regardless because it would be just dreadful for them not to maintain their streak at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. How dare you embarrass the boys when they have gifted us a song & music video from on high.

Side note about their fandom liiiightly pushing back against the ‘vote blue no matter who’ vibes in the fandom lately: their newest song, Permission to Dance, replaced Butter at #1 for a single week, and then Butter was back to number one. Suga had been very straightforward in wishing that the two songs would “baton touch” on the charts, and the fans complied…and then immediately went back to their preferred song. (Because fuck Ed Sheeran lyrics and honestly, songs about dancing are the wooooorst.) (Tbh the height of the PTD era was the teaser in which Suga looks really fucking good being all smirky in a headband. Do you ever feel like crying when a grown man freely moves his previously injured shoulder? Just me? Cool cool cool.)

So, the fans are protective of them, but also of their own reputation as a fandom. They have to achieve record sales because otherwise, The BTS Effect isn’t real, the fandom is not as powerful as it used to be, oh no, hurry hurry, better buy the new Samsung flip phone.

The way the “protection” manifests is often…free publicity mixed with a hefty investment into their products. BTS has so many fucking products and sponsorships. Buying a $10 McDonald’s meal is actually one of the least expensive options for “supporting” BTS as of late. Their most recent full album was $100. Did it come with more than just a CD? Of course! But there was no option to just buy the standalone CD, so you were either in for the luxury box set, or you were out. So the completionist part of the brain meets the FOMO part of the brain and suddenly the Reddit post in which someone admitted to having a separate savings account just for BTS merch makes a whole lot more sense.

This is why so many people have stan twitters. It’s free! It’s just their time they’re investing. There’s something about this group of seven men that compel their fans to go into full-on recruitment mode. I think a lot of them just want you to feel the way they did when they first heard the songs. They want you to share in the joy that it brings them. And that’s really beautiful. I mean that. It starts from a place of true joy. Hey, I found some magic, and I want to share it with you because that will only enhance it for us both. Beautiful! The ultimate expression of human connection!

But now that shared joy has somehow become tied to caring about the 41% increase in monetary gains that McDonald’s shareholders made in April/May/ June of this year.

So, something is broken.

(Oh! I know what it is.)

(It’s Capitalism.)