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On October 17, 2023, YG Entertainment finally dropped the much-awaited BLACKPINK's Jennie X Naoko Takeuchi official merchandise. Jennie's second single, You & Me, and its dance performance video were also released earlier in the same month. Fans heaped praise on the idol for her captivating video.
Released through YG Entertainment and Interscope Records, You & Me was penned by Danny Chung, Teddy, 24, and Vince. The song had previously been performed during the singer's BORNPINK World Tour. She also danced to the song at Coachella.
The Sailor Moon artist, Naoko Takeuchi created a digital cover for Jennie's single, featuring a miniature figure of the idol standing against a glittery sky and in front of the moon, donning a white mini-dress and long hair in braids. Fans couldn't stop swooning over it, which raised expectations for a future collaboration between the two.
However, as YG Entertainment released the merchandise, fans were utterly disappointed and stated that the design of the merchandise was something even a 5-year-old could do.
"I did better with picsart lol": Yg Entertainment faces backlash for their Jennie X Naoko Takeuchi merchandise
YG Entertainment released the You & Me official merchandise for Jennie X Naoko Takeuchi, that consists of T-shirts, sweatshirts, art posters, stickers, cushion covers, and phone cases.
However, fans were highly disappointed due to the perceived lack of effort on the agency's part. Instantly, there were high demands from fans to delete the posts about the official merchandise and create new ones due to the outdated and dull design of the merchandise, and they were ready to spend their money.
It seemed that YG Entertainment merely took the digital cover created by Sailor Moon artist Naoko Takeuchi and placed it on the merchandise without any additional effort. Fans quickly began to criticize the agency, stating that they had missed a golden opportunity to collaborate with a renowned artist. They simply had to match the background color to the picture, which they failed to do.
Check out how BLINKs are enraged on social media criticizing YG Entertainment for their lack of effort in carving out a suitable design for You & Me merchandise:
Many fans expressed that they could have done a better job themselves using various editing applications like PicsArt and blamed the agency for wasting Jennie and Naoko Takeuchi's creative efforts. They urged YG Entertainment to hire a better graphics team for such designs.
A significant number of fans also felt that considering the lack of effort from the agency's side, the merchandise was overpriced and not worth the cost. Fans stated that they would not purchase merchandise that looked no better than fan edits. They also found it embarrassing for an agency to produce such subpar merchandise when working with a renowned and recognized manga artist.
For those unfamiliar, Naoko Takeuchi is a Japanese manga artist and author known for creating Sailor Moon and other works, including Chocolate Christmas, Maria, Miss Rain, The Cherry Project, PQ Angels, and more. A rookie Japanese group, Sailor Guardians (SG5), was also inspired by her work in Sailor Moon and debuted in 2022.
Needless to say, fans had high expectations, and YG Entertainment fell short of delivering a better service for Jennie.
Jennie's You & Me secured the seventh rank on the Billboard Global 200 chart.
