Who gets to see BTS?
Events, pop-ups, activations—no matter the brand—are typically attended by the same groups of people: influencers, media, heads and key individuals, and, of course, the general public. And during the recent BTS Swimside event at the Glorietta Activity Center, the same was to be expected.
For three days, ARMYs (BTS’ loyal and occasionally obsessive fandom) who pre-registered for the event, were treated to a specially curated experience highlighting the K-pop icon’s latest album, “Arirang.” Meanwhile, a day before its opening, select influencers and media personalities (including myself) were invited for an early preview. Seems normal, nothing out of place, the same flow I’ve personally experienced from over hundreds of events in the past few years.
And yet, for a subset of ARMYs, it was as if preferential treatment unheard of in public relations and event planning had taken place.
“Touch grass”
Taking the brunt of the local ARMY rage is dancer and content creator AC Bonifacio, who was criticized for “allegedly” leveraging her personal connections to get an early pass to the event.
Bonifacio took to X (formerly Twitter) to deny the accusations, stating that she was personally invited, like every other influencer and media personality present.
“I understand the frustration because of how loyal you guys are as ARMY. First off, I was hired for the event to work. I did not use any ‘connections’ to get a pass. I didn’t even know who the event was for until the night before. This is part of what I do, and as a breadwinner, I have responsibilities to take care of,” says Bonifacio on her post.
“I’ve been ARMY since 2017, and showing up for something that celebrates BTS and the community means a lot to me. Everyone supports in their own way—this is one of mine. Respect goes both ways,” she adds, in response to speculation that she wasn’t even a fan of the boy group but happened to get an invite to the pop-up.
Bonifacio also called on her fellow ARMY members to continue supporting the group rather than putting one another down.
“It’s frustrating that I have to do this just to support the first group that introduced me to K-pop. I don’t feel the need to prove myself as a fan. That’s why you don’t see everything. I’ll just keep supporting OT7 the way I always have. Let’s not put each other down when we should be celebrating BTS and their comeback together.”
Fellow dancing content creator Niana Guerrero also took to X in response to the flak directed at Bonifacio.
Her trending one-liner with over eight million views on X (as of writing)? “Some of us need to touch grass every once in a while.”
Between fan expectations and the ins and outs of events
The sides are clear. For the aggrieved ARMY, the Swimside event was a potentially special moment for fans who waited patiently for their favorite group’s return. It felt unfair watching influencers and other invited guests (who may not even be the biggest fans of BTS) benefit from an opportunity not everyone could get.
Fan account @imissjoon put it perfectly: “You can get handed VIP access and memories for free just because of your connections, while the fans whose streaming and voting actually built that stage have a near-zero chance.”
But for the influencers, they were simply invited to an event for work, on top of being fans of BTS themselves (at least in Bonifacio’s case). Put into a similar situation, wouldn’t you do the same for a group or person you like? Not to mention, being invited to an early showcase doesn’t take away from any allotted slots in the event proper in the first place since organizers usually allocate some for special guests.
And even for the event organizers—much of the criticism stems from comparisons to the Swimside event in New York City’s Pier 17, where BTS was present and performed some of their songs from the album (where notably, over 1,000 of the group’s top local fans on Spotify were specifically invited).
However, even then, several influencers were also present, and other Swimside activations all over the world had pre-registration requirements similar to ours. Not to mention, it was clearly stated ahead of schedule that attendance to the event would be on a registration basis.
Surely they could have selected a bigger venue to accommodate many more ARMY. That much is true. But it’s hard to get mad at something out of your control.
Come BTS’ world tour stop here; it’s already a given that tickets will run out quickly. In fact, we may even see the same influencers in attendance. But as frustrating as that sounds for the ever-loyal ARMY, not having enough tickets or slots is to be expected when your faves are as big as they are.
And quite frankly, directing hate at those who get to go is not only crude but simply foolish.
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