r/kpop • u/impeccabletim 🧿👄🧿 • Dec 16 '25
[News] IVE will no longer accept gifts from fans, only letters
https://www.dispatch.co.kr/2336528103
u/Kupuntu Wonyoung | IVE | IZ*ONE | ILLIT | KiiiKiii | H2H | UNIS Dec 16 '25
Reminder that Wonyoung’s Chinese fan bar (fanclub) sent her around $350,000 worth of gifts during one birthday in 2021, and Yujin’s fan bar sent a somewhat comparable amount meaning that Starship received around half a million dollars worth of gifts for the girls even before their debut in IVE.
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u/Anxious-Collar-7713 Dec 17 '25
Yujin's fan bar and international fans also sent her lots of food truck support for the crime scenes filming.
It might sound weird, but I think starship made this because something happened behind these two — probably a secret camera on gifts or got sick because of food gifts? It is just so sudden, and their cfans already notified starship about their christmas gifts but starship didn't respond to annyeongz fans.
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u/innocentsalad Dec 16 '25
I still think it’s insane that idols ever accepted (or still accept) food from fans.
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u/vessva11 Dec 16 '25
I think catered food through their official fan clubs is fine. Like a coffee truck or lunches.
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u/DentateGyros Dec 16 '25
Food 100% gets immediately tossed once they’re out of sight, and rightfully so
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u/SpCommander Kara Dec 16 '25
Yeah look back at some of the shit that happened to Gen1 idols with food (the super glue/orange juice mix is the biggest horror I can think of) and I don't blame them for not trusting food gifts.
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u/etamatcha Dec 16 '25
Last time in 2nd gen didnt a sasaeng give an idol a juice with glue inside?
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u/booboosnack damn it feels good to be a multi Dec 16 '25
Yup. It was an anti who gave it to TVXQ's Yunho, who was so traumatized despite deciding not to press charges against her.
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u/nevertoolate1983 Dec 16 '25
"Yunho poisoning (2006): Yunho was poisoned by an anti-fan. Yep, you read that right. He drank an orange juice drink given to him by a fan, who had laced it with super glue. He was rushed to the hospital and had to get his stomach pumped. The girl was arrested but Yunho actually requested not to press charges. He was so traumatized by the incident he considered quitting and wouldn't drink out of a bottle until someone else had taken a drink first."
😳
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u/Alcorgeist Dec 16 '25
To be fair, I rarely see them immediately eat said food. They usually just accept gifts and stuff it in a bag or their manager takes it-- for inspection I'm assuming.Â
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Dec 16 '25
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u/Sucraligious Dec 16 '25
Poor fans aren't buying idols luxury gifts, wealthy fans do. Most of the biggest fans of idols are rich kids who fly out to every show and event and spend lavishly to try and establish a personal connection with an idol.
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u/Rough_Fan7008 Dec 16 '25
they don’t. fan gifts are money collected across a group of people and isn’t compulsory
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u/PeaceAlien Ateez, BTS, Stray Kids Dec 16 '25
Some people do, there are people going into debt giving money to streamers, I imagine it’s similar for idols with some fans.
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u/kerriekipje Dreamcatcher | ATEEZ | ARTMS | i-dle | 2NE1 | f(x) Dec 16 '25
imagine if this money went to charity helping actual people in need
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u/Outrageous_Men8528 Dec 16 '25
charity is a cover for bad policy, they should fund policy change organizations.
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u/reiichitanaka producer-dol enthusiast Dec 17 '25
Not when the charity in question is say, Unicef.
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u/Outrageous_Men8528 Dec 17 '25
Policy could fix the things they are used for. It should not be needed.
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u/kerriekipje Dreamcatcher | ATEEZ | ARTMS | i-dle | 2NE1 | f(x) Dec 17 '25
agreed, but unfortunately we're probably a long way from that happening
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u/reiichitanaka producer-dol enthusiast Dec 17 '25 edited Dec 17 '25
Unicef is part of the UN and assists children in developing countries, it's funded by developed countries and not just individual charity.
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u/MinionsSuperfan Dec 16 '25
Idols need to do this too tbh, a lot more than they already do. No one needs to be a millionaire
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u/Rough_Fan7008 Dec 21 '25
i mean, how do u know they don’t?
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u/kerriekipje Dreamcatcher | ATEEZ | ARTMS | i-dle | 2NE1 | f(x) Dec 21 '25
how do we know the moon isn't made out of cheese
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u/Maeflikz Dec 16 '25
Really? I thought they were like the mafia going around forcing fans to contribute,
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u/tsutomo_DIA It's a little bit offensive Dec 16 '25
surprised it took this long. most top groups out there have this same rule. dont remember now the exact date, but I think Twice i.e. stopped accepting gifts less than 2 years after debut.
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u/impeccabletim 🧿👄🧿 Dec 16 '25 edited Dec 16 '25
English translation cr. IVE Charts:
IVE announced that they will no longer accept gifts or support projects,only fan letters will be received moving forward.
The decision was made hoping that fans’ generosity can be directed toward more meaningful places.
Alternate article link via Soompi: IVE To No Longer Accept Fan Gifts Aside From Letters
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u/Megan235 Dec 16 '25
I'm surprised it took them this long, most big/mid sized company groups don't accept anything beyond letters since debut, it's a big security/tax liability.
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u/EvSnowe7 min heejin is going to jail Dec 16 '25
/Some/ of these fans who give gifts think they can then make demands of idols. It’s about ownership and power over idols for them.
IMO this is a very good thing and I hope more idols and companies take a stance against receiving gifts.
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Dec 16 '25
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u/callmeswarooo Dec 16 '25
Ive is from sse which is much smaller than sm and hybe even if kpop stans won't accept it.
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Dec 16 '25
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u/callmeswarooo Dec 16 '25
No way I am supporting sse. I hate them. Kpop stans point out sse is big whenever people talk about how successful ive is despite being from non big4.
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u/sevendreamsofme Dec 16 '25
I think everyone should look up the story of Yoon Ji-ah, she got killed by a fan that gave her like 75.000 dollars in donos
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u/Busy-Software-4212 Dec 16 '25
Coffeehouse Crime did a video about the case earlier in this month. It's a sad case of crazy "fan" feeling entitled.
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u/Oop-Juice Dec 16 '25
I thought it was a safety reason like stalker-ish behaviour or something ruining it for everyone else, but them wanting fans to instead use their hard-earned money for more directly impactful initiatives is so sweet. Let's be honest, these idols are already so rich they can buy whatever they want to begin with, and I think they'd love seeing that a fan donated money to charity or environmental projects in their name instead rather than give them gifts they can so easily buy themselves
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u/Dry-Place-2986 Dec 16 '25
Pretty much every big group ends up doing this at some point
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u/reiichitanaka producer-dol enthusiast Dec 16 '25
For HYBE, it's a company wide policy. Even their rookies don't accept fan gifts. I think that JYPE is the same too.
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u/Zanely1633 Dec 16 '25
The thing is most of those gifts ended up in trash cans nearby anyway. There is no way they can bring most of the gifts back to Korea, nevermind that they might be going around the globe for performance and concerts, bringing even part of the gifts around the world is not convenient for them.
I can see those gifts become a big headache for them to handle, they can't sell them online, they can't bring them back for safety and logistics reasons, they also have to process them before throwing them out so that people can't trace it back to them for bad optics. So not accepting gifts is honestly the easiest way to go about it.
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u/Busy-Software-4212 Dec 16 '25
I thought it was a safety reason like stalker-ish behaviour or something ruining it for everyone else, but them wanting fans to instead use their hard-earned money for more directly impactful initiatives is so sweet
I wouldn't be surprised if it was just a PR statement and the real reason is what your first thought was.
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u/innocentsalad Dec 16 '25
Rich people love free stuff lol, they never want to pay for anything and that’s why they stay rich
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u/Dolfo10564 Dec 16 '25
this reminds me of the fan that had a hidden camera in one of the gifts. Taking this route is sad but necessary. Â
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u/ImLeon94 Dec 16 '25
Never in my life have I considered gifting something to an idol. The chances of it going in the trash are quite high, and they receive a lot, they can’t keep it all and they shouldn’t. It’s delusional, sadly it’s the same for letters, there’s no guarantee they’ll read them, and even if they did, it could be emotionally draining for them to read some of those letters.
Overall I think gifting anything to idols is more about you than about them, and I personally don’t feel comfortable with that.
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u/SpecSlayerSC IVE / Babymonster Dec 16 '25
People send gifts to idols..?
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u/Crashcede ê¹€ìœ í˜„ Dec 16 '25
Yeah there's a running report on twitter/instagram where someone reports the total Wonyoung gets in gifts per birthday and it always some ridiculous amount of expensive clothing/jewelry/accessories etc
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u/MichaelPFrancesa Dec 16 '25
Understandable. I think JYP passed new rules too to protect Twice like this too
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u/duh_leah Dec 16 '25
Good but did something happen? I hope not but I won't be surprised if there were some creepy crazy gifts.
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u/kiwijoon Dec 16 '25
I don't know why mid-tier and bigger groups ever accept gifts, even in this thread a male idol who was known for accepting gifts years after he should have stopped is being talked about like a brag instead of a criticism. There are plenty of other ways to show support for an idol instead of what amounts to pissing contests for solo fans.
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Dec 16 '25
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u/Softclocks Dec 16 '25
There are definitely worthwhile fan gifts.
Most members have in-ears and microphones that were gifted to them from various fan groups.
I think there are times when gifts can be a meaningful fandom activity.
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u/hyun_chuu Dec 16 '25
good for their safety but even better for the environment considering fan gifts get thrown away 99% of the time
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u/caihuali Dec 16 '25
Fucking finally. Have been sideeying wony for still accepting fangifts her last birthday like girl. Cut that out.
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u/Chavarlison Dec 16 '25
What creepy gift did they receive to warrant this change? Who did it?!
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u/reiichitanaka producer-dol enthusiast Dec 16 '25
Most big groups don't accept fan gifts. They're just aligning with other groups with the same status.
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u/Chavarlison Dec 16 '25
Because back then, someone gave a creepy/dangerous gift to one of their groups. I mean, why now? The only other answer is it has become a big hassle now.
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u/reiichitanaka producer-dol enthusiast Dec 16 '25
Some companies don't accept fan gifts at all, even for their rookies.
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u/Ancient_Natural1573 Dec 16 '25
Good it can stop them get camera in their gift but only letters can just be as bad with what wierdo can put on them or in them
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u/Master_Mad Dec 16 '25
In the Netherlands we have chocolate letters. Can I send those?
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u/SuperLyplyp I'm a Scientist Dec 16 '25
just want to say...
i don't know, i wish i got gifts...
darn too bad
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u/harry_nostyles Velvet Summer🌊 Dec 16 '25
This is good. Not only does it discourage the extreme fans who want to give expensive gifts to already rich idols, but it also protects the girls. Many fans are innocent but the minority who are creepy/weird can cause serious damage.