GS25 apologizes for allegedly man-hating poster

The controversial GS25 poster. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

The GS25 convenience store chain apologized Tuesday for a camping poster that some people saw as a reference to radical feminism and misandry, or hatred of man.

Cho Yoon-sung, president of the franchise, apologized to customers and the store operators “for causing damage and huge concerns.” He vowed to look into the creative process the company uses in its promotions.

Last weekend, GS25 released a poster depicting an image of a hand about to grab a small sausage. The poster had an English slogan, “Emotional Camping Must-have Item.”

GS25 was promoting freebies being offered to consumers that buy camping food on the company’s mobile app. But some people thought the poster was making references to a radical feminist online community called Megalia.

They argued that the shape of the hand in the poster was like Megalia’s logo, which itself is a reference to a gesture associated with misandry. They also said that the last letters of each word in the poster’s slogan, if read in reverse, read Megla, which is close to Megalia.

Cho said the company used images related to camping and healing, and found them through a search of those two words on a paid photo website.

“We did not recognize [that the images could be related to] social issues in terms of the design,” said Cho. “We are deeply sorry for having unpredictably caused discomfort to customers. We will be more strict in our creative process and be more careful.”

Following the controversy, some are calling for a boycott of GS25 stores. One person filed a petition on the Blue House website Sunday demanding the Ministry of National Defense end a contract with the chain, which has an exclusive deal to run stores on more than 200 Navy camps.

BY JIN MIN-JI [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]